LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



The Kindergarten 

of the Church 



By 



Mary J. Chisholm Foster 




X5? 0FC0 #s*X 



HGO^H"^ 



NEW YORK : HUNT & EATON 

CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & CURTS 

1894 






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Copyright by 

HUNT & EATON, 

1894. 



Composition, electrotyping, 

printing, and binding by 

Hunt & Eaton, 

150 Fifth Ave., New York. 



LC Control Number 



tmp96 027625 



MY DEAR MOTHER, 

WHOSE LOVING GUIDANCE DIRECTED MY CHILDHOOD ; WHOSE 
PRINCIPLES AND COMPANIONSHIP STIMULATE ME NOW, 
AS IN THE PAST, IN MY PHYSICAL, INTELLEC- 
TUAL, AND SPIRITUAL LIFE, LEADING 
ME TO THE THEORIES HEREIN 
PRESENTED ; AND TO 

THE DEAR LITTLE CHILDREN 

OF THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH, 
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK. 



AUTHOR'S NOTE. 



TO the valuable works, FroebeVs Life and 
Letters, by Arnold H. Heinemann, and 
Froebel and Education Through Self- Activity, 
by H. Courthope Bowen, M.A., formerly head 
master of Grocers' Company's Schools, Hack- 
ney Downs, and lately a lecturer at Cambridge, 
on Theory of Education, I am indebted for 
much information, especially upon the part his- 
torical of the kindergarten. I wish to acknowl- 
edge my great obligation to these writers. 
The books named would be of value to all 
parents, pastors, and teachers, and would pre- 
pare them to read Froebel's Education of Man 
with greater interest. 



PREFACE. 



THOSE who are seeking the best methods 
for developing and unfolding the mind 
of the child will find these pages more sug- 
gestive than exhaustive. The importance 
and possibility of light upon this subject will 
incite investigation, and will stimulate a more 
definite and practical study of the Bible. 
Many quotations are introduced directly and 
credited, because of an honest opinion that, as 
some of them have had for many years an 
influence, more or less direct, upon the author's 
life and work, she prefers that they appear to 
the reader in their original garb, for they 
clothe great ideas with scholarly attire, and 
the best modern dress at her command could 
not so well fit them. Such beauty of expres- 
sion has been used by artists of the pen, as 
well as by artists of the brush and of the 
clavichord, that these expressions seem sacred. 



8 PREFACE. 

One who reads the fragmentary quotations 
may have a desire awakened to know more of 
the writers and of their books ; if so, a service 
has been rendered him. 

The first public utterance of these ideas the 
writer gave in an address before a convention 
of Sunday school workers in Lowell, Mass., in 
1882, which address was published in Boston 
at that time. During these years the impor- 
tance and magnitude of the work has been 
more and more apparent, and the ideas call 
loudly for a more emphatic expression and to 
a larger public ; hence this volume, after many 
pressing solicitations to extend helpful, loving 
hands to the little children of the Church of 
God, has been undertaken in a larger spirit 
and for a wider purpose ; and this in the spirit 
of a tender Saviour, who came " not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister." 

Mary J. Chisholm Foster. 

P. S. — Three days after this Preface was 
written and laid with the manuscripts, while 
dusting the books in our library, I opened a 
book aimlessly and read upon the fly leaf a 
quotation which is so in accord with the above 



PREFACE. 9 

that I insert it, though I may, in so doing, 
violate the conventional law of bookmaking 
by adding a postscript to a Preface : 

" It is a foolish desire which has prevailed 
among some writers of treatises on rhetoric 
to define nothing in the same terms that an- 
other has already employed. I shall say not 
what I shall invent, but what I shall approve, 
since, when the best definition is found, he who 
seeks for another must seek for a worse."— 
Quintilian. M. J. C. F. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I.— THEORY. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Definition of Kindergarten 15 

II. History of Kindergarten 23 

III. Relation of the Church to the Kinder- 
garten 33 

IV. The Kindergarten of the Church 41 

V. The Church and the Family. — a. The Fam- 
ily 61 

VI. The Church and the Family. — b. Mothers. . 89 

VII. The Church and the Individual 103 

VIII. How It May Be Done. — a. Kindergarten 113 

IX. How It May Be Done. — b. Transition Class. 129 

PART II.— PRACTICE. 

I. Inspiration 143 

II. Consecration 149 

III. Work and Play 159 

IV. Work and Play — Continued 184 

V. Results 203 



PART I.— THEORY. 



" The mind in infancy is, methinks, like the body in em- 
bryo, and receives impressions so forcibly that they are as 
hard to be removed by reason as any mark with which a 
child is born is to be taken away by any future application." — 
Steele. 

11 The greatest and most important difficulty of human 
science is the education of children." — Michael, Seigneur de 
Montaigne. 

" For of the soul, the body form doth take ; 

For soul is form, and doth the body make." — Spenser. 



THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

" Howbeit that which is first is natural, and afterward 
that which is spiritual." — Bible. 

DEFINITION OF KINDERGARTEN. 

A KINDERGARTEN is explained by 
Froebel, the originator of the system, 
when he calls it a child-garden. As a gar- 
dener studies and cherishes his flowers, so a 
kindergartner is to study every phase of de- 
velopment in the children under her care, 
and meet the demands of increasing intelli- 
gence. The gardener understands the nature 
and inclination of each plant, also the outer 
forces detrimental to the development of life 
and beauty, pruning here, removing insects 
there, giving sunshine to this plant, shade to 
that, forcing some for a time, and compel- 
ling others to rest. A prominent teacher 
tells us : "In a kindergarten children are 



l6 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

treated on a plan analogous to this. It pre- 
supposes gardeners of the mind, who are quite 
aware that they have as little power to over- 
ride the characteristic individuality of a child, 
or to predetermine this characteristic, as a 
gardener of plants is to say a lily shall be a 
rose. But notwithstanding this limitation on 
one side and the necessity for concurrence of 
the spirit on the other, which is more inde- 
pendent of our modification than the remote 
sun, yet they must feel responsible, after all, 
for the perfection of the development and 
give attention to removing every impediment, 
preserving every condition, and pruning every 
redundance." 

Children in early life have a strong love for 
others. They are really self-forgetful, and we 
are surprised to see at what an early age this 
love for others seems to predominate over self- 
love. The little bud may be chilled, however, 
at a very tender age ; indeed, Froebel goes so 
far as to say, " Often a child's temper is ruined 
at the age of from one to three years ; " and 
he had nurses take children at the age of 
three months to his establishment at Ham- 
burg, that the primal principles of his system 
might be applied to their education. Miss 
Peabody, an eminent kindergartner, has said : 
" Sympathy is as much a natural instinct as 



DEFINITION OF KINDERGARTEN. 1 7 

self-love, and no more or less innocent in a 
moral point of view. Either principle alone 
makes an ugly and depraved form of natural 
character. Balanced, they give the element of 
happiness and the conditions of spiritual good- 
ness, making children fit temples for the Holy 
Ghost to dwell in." 

We find the kindergarten, as established by 
Froebel, and continued successfully by profes- 
sional teachers, to be the most approved and 
scientific method we have for the education of 
very young children. Examining its peculiar 
features, we find it artistic and spiritual, yet in- 
tensely interesting and faultlessly thorough. 
In every detail it is practical. 

Activity of mind and dexterity of move- 
ment are combined in teaching the plaiting of 
colored paper, drawing, paper-folding, sewing, 
sand and clay modeling; the eyes and ears 
are cultivated in the use of geometrical forms 
and music, while system and accuracy prevail 
throughout. 

The principles of the kindergarten are not 
always understood by those who send their 
children to it, and frequently are not dis- 
covered by those who have for years studied 
its theory and have achieved a manual dex- 
terity in doing its work. A mother who had 
sent her child for months to a kindergarten 
2 



1 8 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

told me that she had never visited it, and could 
not get any real understanding of its work 
from the description which her little girl 
gave her. Another woman said to me : "I 
should like my little daughter to be in your 
kindergarten ; they will not have her in the 
public school, because she has fits ; she is only 
eleven years old." Still another said to me, 
" My little boy would like to be entertained 
this winter, and if you will take him two hours 
a day it will oblige me very much ; I will pay 
you well for it ; I think he would be so well 
entertained." Another woman, after visiting a 
session of the kindergarten, said, " Why, you 
never tire of playing with the children, do you ? " 
Persons with these ideas should read a little of 
the literature and study a bit of the philoso- 
phy of the kindergarten system. Those who 
have good intentions, but "a zeal without 
knowledge," should be guarded in what they 
do, and only those who have given thought 
and study to the particular system called 
" kindergarten " should undertake it. It is a 
science of education, and one which requires 
instruction and practice before attempting to 
teach it. You cannot put together a story 
book, some playthings, a sewing card, children 
who can read (who are already beyond their 
first imaginations, and are beginning to see 



DEFINITION OF KINDERGARTEN. 1 9 

realities beyond the first steps of symbolism), 
and call this a kindergarten. It is not. The 
attempt to do it indicates either ignorance or 
charlatanry. 

Anything worthy of your effort is worthy of 
your best preparation. The prayer of the 
good man may sometimes be uttered with 
sincerity, " Lord forbid that we should rush 
forth as the unthinking horse rushes into bat- 
tle." He said it every week in prayer meet- 
ing, and his life was calm and even, helpful 
and true. Sometimes I have wondered that a 
kindergartner would go to her work, even 
with the equipment of one year's training, or 
perhaps two years' ; however, I know that an 
earnest teacher will only by this gain insight, 
and will continue to unfold and develop her- 
self, while developing others. 

The definition of kindergarten is clearly given 
in Steiger's Tract No. One thus : 

"It is to promote children's healthy activ- 
ity ; later to awaken their imagination gradually 
to the influence of the beautiful, the true, and 
the good ; to stimulate their imitative and in- 
ventive capacity ; to aid the development of 
their reason, and to give those powers free 
exercise and a right direction. 

" It is to prevent any undue strain on chil- 
dren's powers, mental or physical, to teach by 



20 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

means of object lessons conveyed in plays 
rather than by books. 

" It is to form a well-balanced mind, to dis- 
cern and bring out gently, but surely, any 
latent aptitude for intellectual acquirements, 
artistic gifts, or manual skill. 

" It is, finally, to prepare children for school, 
to fit them for learning more readily, to sow 
the first seeds that are to produce adults of 
sound mind in a sound body, good citizens 
and true Christians." 



"How many good and clear wits of children be nowadays 
punished by ignorant schoolmasters." — Sir Thomas Elyot, 
1531. 

" Some men friendly enough of nature, but of small judg- 
ment in learning, do think I take too much pains and spend 
too much time in setting forth these children's affairs ; but 
these good men were never brought up in Socrates's school, 
who saith plainly, that no man goeth about a more godly 
purpose than he that is mindful of the good bringing up, 
both of his own, and of other men's children." — Roger 
Ascham, 1563. 



HISTORY OF KINDERGARTEN. 23 



CHAPTER II. 

" David therefore besought God for the child." — Bible. 
HISTORY OF KINDERGARTEN. 

THE kindergarten was founded by Fried- 
rich Wilhelm August Froebel, who was 
born in Oberweissbach, in the Thuringian 
Forest, April 21, 1782. His mother died 
when he was but a few months old. His father 
was a busy clergyman with a scattered parish 
to look after, and the boy was cared for during 
his early years by his brothers and servants. 

When he was four years old a stepmother 
came to the home, but she could give him 
little attention. He delighted in birds, flowers, 
playing in the woods, and walking among 
the great trees of the forest, and was a happy 
and mischievous boy. The master of the 
boys' school in the place where he lived was 
in disfavor with little Friedrich's father, so the 
boy was not allowed to enter his school, but 
was taken to the girls' school, where he re- 
mained for a time, and at the age of ten years 
his systematic school life began, when his uncle, 



24 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

a brother of his mother, who had neither wife 
nor child, asked that he might take the little 
boy and educate him. The request was 
granted, and he entered the school of the town 
of Stadt-Ilm, where he says he studied reading, 
writing, arithmetic, and religion. " My teacher 
wished to advance further with me, and so 
took me to the geography of England. I 
could not find any connection between that 
country and the place and country in which I 
myself dwelt ; so of this instruction I retained 
but little. . . . We received directions in letter- 
writing and in spelling. I do not remember 
with what subject the teaching of spelling was 
connected ; I think it was not connected with 
any; it hung loosely in the air."* Of his 
teacher he says, " It did not occur to him to 
make much use of his opportunity." He re- 
turned home after four years with some knowl- 
edge of mathematics and a great love for his 
uncle. Two of his brothers being already in a 
university, and his father's income limited, he 
was sent to a forester, where he studied geome- 
try, land surveying, and forestry, and during 
his two years in the forest he acquired a 
passionate love for botany, speaking of it as " a 

* Read in The Education of Man, pp. 252-255, Hailmann's 
translation, his own idea of how this knowledge of one's sur- 
roundings should be gained. 



HISTORY OF KINDERGARTEN. 25 

religious communion with nature." Here, it is 
said, he " gave much time to solitary reflection." 
In 1799 he left the forest, and, after a few 
days at home, entered the University of Jena, 
where he remained for a year and a half, but 
for lack of money he was obliged to leave it. 
He was dissatisfied because of the conscious 
absence of inner connection between the studies 
he pursued, for he was thinking constantly 
"about unity and diversity; the relation of 
the whole of nature to its parts, and of the 
parts to the whole." He then went to Hild- 
burghausen to study farming, but in a short 
time his father sent for him, and he returned 
home, where he cared for his father, who was 
ill and who died in 1802. He then gave him- 
self to forestry " and the companionship of 
nature and educated people," until, in 1805, 
upon the death of his uncle, who left him a 
little money, he studied architecture at Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main ; and here, at the urgent re- 
quest of the head master, he abandoned all idea 
of pursuing this study, for he felt what Dr. Gru- 
ner said might be true, that he was " a born 
teacher." So he accepted the position offered 
him, teaching arithmetic, drawing, and physi- 
cal geography to thirty or forty boys from nine 
to eleven years of age. At this time, thinking 
that he had found a field for which he had 



26 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

unconsciously yearned, he was in an ecstasy 
of delight until he discovered that he was not 
doing the best that could be done for the de- 
velopment of the minds of his pupils, and when 
Dr. Gruner became aware of this dissatisfac- 
tion he gave to him some of the writings of 
Pestalozzi, which produced such unrest and 
desire that he went on foot to Yverdun to 
see that teacher in his institute.* The visit 
resulted in a great personal admiration for 
Pestalozzi, though the system he employed 
seemed, Froebel thought, rather vague to him- 
self, as he could not give a clear explanation 
of his idea, and Froebel returned to his school 
duties, still studying and reflecting. 

Later he gave up his position and, at the 
earnest request of their mother, took three 
boys with him to go and live in the country, 
after Rousseau's idea, in solitude, while educat- 
ing them. This he found to be " a mistake as 
a permanency, the resulting life narrow and 
one-sided, and that he himself required com- 
panionship and training." So he took the 
boys to Yverdun, and for two years he lived 
near Pestalozzi's institute, inspired by the 
presence of this noble teacher, impressed with 
the means used to develop soul and body, the 

* See Autobiography, translation by E. Michaelis and H. 
Keatley Moore. 



HISTORY OF KINDERGARTEN. 27 

open-air games, and the walks and studies in 
contact with nature. When his special work 
for these boys was done he entered the Uni- 
versity of Gottingen for the study of languages, 
physics, chemistry, mineralogy, and natural 
history, and a year later went to the Univer- 
sity of Berlin to avail himself of the lectures 
of Professor Weiss, which were attracting 
much attention in 1812. He here decided 
that " unity must be the basis of all principles 
of development." While he was in Berlin he 
supported himself by teaching in a boys' 
school, but at Easter, in 1813, he enlisted in 
the infantry of the German army at the call 
of Prussia against Napoleon. In the army 
his two comrades, Middendorff and Langethal, 
so endeared themselves to him, and he to 
them, that afterward, when peace was restored, 
they became faithful and trusted assistants in 
his educational work. 

For two years he assisted Professor Weiss in 
the Royal Museum of Mineralogy, but at the 
end of that time he left Berlin, and in 18 16 
opened a school of his own in a little cottage, 
his first pupils being two nephews, one aged 
six and the other eight years. These, with 
three other nephews, were his pupils in the 
school at Griesheim, and, their mother having 
bought a bit of property in Keilhau, Mid- 



28 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

dendorff and Langethal joined him at his 
summons to help him educate the boys, the 
latter bringing a young brother to join them, 
and in 1818 the school was well established, 
with twelve boys and three teachers. Soon 
after this he married a woman fully in sympa- 
thy with his ideas and of great assistance to 
him in carrying them out. After some years 
she died. His second wife, who was a teacher 
in his kindergarten, is still living in Hamburg 
(1894). 

Much has been written concerning the work 
Froebel did at Keilhau. While there, after 
a visit to Berlin, he established what he called 
" an institution for the fostering of little chil- 
dren." For two years this was without a 
name. He objected to calling it an infant 
school, for, he said, the pupils were not to be 
" schooled," but developed ; and it was while 
walking with two of his teachers over a moun- 
tain pass (1840) and repeating, " O that I could 
think of a good name for my youngest born ! " 
that he suddenly stood still and " shouted to 
the mountain, so that it echoed to the four 
winds, ' Eureka ! Kindergarten shall the insti- 
tute be called ! ' " 

After a hard struggle for life the first kin- 
dergarten had to be given up in 1844, and, 
with his teachers, Froebel traveled through the 



HISTORY OF KINDERGARTEN. 29 

country and established kindergartens. In 
185 1 the Prussian government forbade their 
formation, as it was feared they were a part of 
a system to teach children atheism. This 
misunderstanding was occasioned by the con- 
fusion between Froebel and his nephew Ju- 
lius Froebel, the latter holding socialistic 
ideas, and, though this was explained, " the 
minister of education " and religion, Von Rau- 
mer, would not allow that he was mistaken, 
and the interdict remained until i860. 

Mr. Bowen says : " What hurt the old teacher 
most, who of all men was truly religious, was 
the accusation of atheism ;" and though later 
he worked on courageously, he never ceased to 
grieve over this. While his system was under 
the ban of the government he thought seri- 
ously of coming to America, believing that in 
this free land the kindergarten would prosper. 
He sent the outline of a plan for kindergartens 
and normal schools to his brother-in-law, in 
Philadelphia, but he did not live long enough 
to carry out this plan. 

In the year i860 the kindergarten idea was 
expressed in this country by Miss Elizabeth 
Peabody, of Boston, who had become inter- 
ested in the mental development and unusual 
understanding of the little daughter of a 
friend. She inquired where the child had 



30 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

learned certain things, and the mother replied, 
" In a kindergarten in Germany." Miss Pea- 
body's information concerning kindergartens 
she had gained from reading what she could get 
of Froebel's writings, and under the name kin- 
dergarten she opened a school for small 
children ; but she said she felt her deficiency in 
many ways, and in 1867 she went to Ger- 
many to study the system. 

In 1859 and l86 ° Mr - James T. Allen, of the 
English and Classical School, West Newton, 
Mass., while traveling in Europe, made the 
acquaintance at Berlin of Baroness B. von 
Marenholz-Bulow, the great interpreter of Froe- 
bel. The account he gave of her work so inter- 
ested his brother, Mr. Nathaniel T. Allen, prin- 
cipal of the school, that they determined to se- 
cure a competent kindergartner in connection 
with their school, and this was accomplished 
in 1862, when Mrs. Louise Pollock was engaged. 
She has been for some years past at the head of 
the Normal Institute for Kindergarten Teach- 
ers in Washington. In a letter which Mr. Allen 
wrote to the author he says : " This, so far as 
we can learn, was the first kindergarten in this 
country for American children. In the educa- 
tional department of the World's Exposition 
at Chicago, Madam Pollock placed on exhibi- 
tion the picture of our school building, with 



HISTORY OF KINDERGARTEN. 3 1 

the photograph of her class, labeled ' First 
Normal School Building in the United States, 
and the First Kindergarten Class in the United 
States.' " 

While Miss Peabody was in Europe her 
sister, Mrs. Horace Mann, opened a kindergar- 
ten, and Miss Peabody, on her return, estab- 
lished the first free kindergarten in America. 
This was at Boston, in 1870. She said, " Kin- 
dergartening is not a craft, it is a religion ; not 
an avocation, but a vocation from on high." 
And in accord with her belief this noble 
woman labored for the education of children 
the remainder of her life. 

To Mrs. Quincy Shaw, a daughter of Pro- 
fessor Louis Agassiz, is due great honor for her 
noble work in founding kindergartens in Bos- 
ton, and also to the Board of Education and 
its supervisor, Mrs. Louisa Hopkins, for the 
practical recognition of its value in the public 
school system. The movement is spreading 
widely and quickly in nearly every State, and 
affecting all schools with the spirit of the new 
education. 



" The essential principle of education is not teaching, it is 
love." — Johann Heinrich Peslalozzi. 

" Every gift is valuable, and ought to be unfolded. When 
one encourages the beautiful alone, and another encourages 
the useful alone, it takes them both to form a man. The use- 
ful encourages itself, for the multitude produce it, and no one 
can dispense with it ; the beautiful must be encouraged, for 
few can set it forth, and many need it." — Goethe. 

"Take along with you holy earnestness ; for earnestness 
alone makes life eternity." — Goethe. 



THE CHURCH AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 33 



CHAPTER III. 

" Feed my lambs." — Bible. 

RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE KINDER- 
GARTEN. 

IT is a significant fact that the kindergarten 
had its birth among the Jews. A letter 
which Froebel wrote to his friend, Hermann 
von Arnswald, dated September, 1847, says:* 
" I consider it in the exact spirit of Christian- 
ity to make no distinction whatever. It would 
be in contradiction to all my past activity to 
think of excluding Jews. At Frankfurt-on- 
Main I helped establish a Jewish kindergarten 
before a Christian kindergarten was thought of." 
The first kindergarten established by Froebel, 
that of which we have spoken, was at Blanken- 
burg, near Rudolstadt, Thuringia, in 1837^ 

* Froebel' s Letters, edited by Arnold H. Heinemann. 

f In 1847, in a letter to a clergyman, Froebel says of this 
place, " You cannot serve your religion better than by assist- 
ing this scheme of founding this Luther Kindergarten in Eis- 
enach, at the foot of the Wartburg, where Luther made the 
word of the Lord, this most important basis of the Reforma- 
tion, ready for us in our own language. . . ." Mr. Heine- 
mann, in a very explicit note, interprets this reference to the 
3 



34 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

This first kindergarten was planted and 
maintained under great difficulties, for the 
people who allowed their children to attend it 
were suspicious that the teachers were foster- 
ing idleness by giving plays to the pupils, and 
so they were far from any opinion that they 
should give financial support to such an insti- 
tution, and after a time Froebel was obliged to 
discontinue it, for he was very poor, and fre- 
quently did not have sufficient money to pur- 
chase necessary materials. All through his life 
of usefulness Froebel depended upon God and 
the Church for aid and encouragement. Mr. 
Heinemann says that " Froebel thought he had 
won a great deal when he had succeeded in 
interesting a pastor in his plans ;" and if we 
take the fact into account that the education 
of the people, in the highest sense of the 
word, is or ought to be the very field and 
proper occupation of the clergy, it is evident 

Wartburg thus : " The Wartburg is an old castle of the me- 
diaeval Landgraves of Thuringia, located close to the city of 
Eisenach. After Luther had his hearing, and made his famous 
speeches before the Diet at Worms on the Rhine, in 1521, he 
was, on his return journey, suddenly seized by a band of masked 
knights and taken to the Wartburg, with orders to remain there. 
There he began his translation of the Bible. ... It is to this 
translation that Froebel refers as the word of the Lord made 
ready for us. The Wartburg is also the place where the great 
singing contest occurs in Richard Wagner's opera, ' Tann- 
hauser.'" 



THE CHURCH AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 35 

that it was but natural to strive for their co- 
operation. 

When a person said to me recently, " I 
thought that the Church would some day see 
good in the kindergarten," I replied that it had 
always aided the kindergarten. The Church 
should see her opportunity to use this method, 
and, parallel with the State in training the same 
mind of the same children, work for them, and 
do as Froebel intended — prepare the children 
for the public school. The biographer of Froe- 
bel says, " It was his intention to make the 
kindergarten not only a, but the sole, prepara- 
tory institute for the public school." He did 
not live to see it a part of the public school 
system of his country, where the schools are 
institutions of the government, and, so far from 
accepting his system, the authorities were sus- 
picious of it for years. 

The kindergarten and the new education 
had Christian birth. When Froebel was dying 
he said he had " labored to make Christianity 
a reality." This was the purpose of the kin- 
dergarten, and this is its mission. The Church 
of God without bigotry should use its method. 
In one of Froebel's letters he thus reports his 
initiation to the world when, first stepping out- 
side the home circle, his father took him to 
school on Monday morning : " I was placed 



36 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

on the seat of honor by the side of the teacher, 
for the reason, I guess, that I was the son of 
the pastor ; or it may be that I was reputed a 
mischievous boy. A verse treated in the ser- 
mon on the Sunday preceding was spoken 
aloud by one of the older girls and repeated 
by all the small girls in front. On this first 
day of my attendance they repeated the words 
of the Lord, ' Seek ye first the kingdom of 
God and his righteousness, and all these things 
shall be added unto you.' The verse was ex- 
plained to the older girls and also to me, but 
the little ones were not required to know it 
perfectly before Saturday. Meanwhile the 
verse was repeated in parts again and again, in 
the high pitch of their childish voices, in 
chorus and in the old chanting manner of vil- 
lage schools. I heard this verse repeated for 
a long time every morning of the six days of 
the week, until the sounds, the words, and the 
sense had produced so strong an impression 
upon me as to make this verse the motto of 
my life in the truest sense of the word, for it 
has resounded like the chant of a chorus of 
nuns in my ears on all the days of my life. 
The older I grew the more thoroughly was I 
led to recognize the full importance, efficacy, 
and profound living truth of the maxim. It 
became the basis and regulator of numerous 



THE CHURCH AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 37 

undertakings of mine, and always proved its 
entire truthfulness." * 

One refers beautifully to the close of this 
useful life in these words: "June 6, 1852, he 
took to his bed ; . . . during those last days his 
mind was constantly occupied by thoughts of 
the religious aspect of his work. He frequently 
spoke of this to his friends who had gathered 
around him. He remained quiet and happy, 
and, as of old, showed great delight in flow- 
ers. ... At last, on June 21, murmuring, ' God 
the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen,' 
the aged friend and benefactor of children fell 
asleep." Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel, 
born at Oberweissbach, Thuringian Forest, 
April 21, 1782, died at Marienthal, June 21, 
1852. 

Martin Luther, in his Catechism, addresses 
his questions to " my dear child," and to him 
" the German nation is indebted for a remark- 
able extension and popularization of its long- 
standing educational institutions. ... It was 
he who introduced the first public schools, and 
he wrote his Catechism of the Protestant faith 
as the first schoolbook of Germany. " f Froebel 
says that he wants his colaborers to remember 
the words of Martin Luther, " If we want to 
educate children we must be children with 

* FroebeV 's Letters. f Heinemann. 






38 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

them ourselves ; " and in a letter to his friend, 
Colonel von Arnswald, dated August 21, 1847, 
he says : " I was at Marienberg, where the 
eighth kindergarten was opened. It is a foun- 
dation by private people, and was called Lu- 
ther Kindergarten. From there I went to 
the village of Quetz, on a visit to meet my 
friend and the children's friend, Pastor Hilden- 
hagen, where I was busy making preparation 
for a festival for little children." Froebel had 
his first and most cordial support from his pas- 
tor and other pastors, and his system was for- 
mulated by the aid and advice of the Church. 



"OCallias," said Socrates, "if your two sons were foals 
or calves, there would be no difficulty in finding some one to 
put over them ; we should hire a trainer of horses, or a farmer 
who would improve them in their own proper virtue and 
excellence ; but as they are human beings, whom do you 
think of placing over them ? " — Plato. 

"Do you not know that both disease and death must sur- 
prise us while we are doing something? the husbandman 
while he is tilling the ground, the sailor while he is on his 
voyage ? What would you do when death surprises you ? 
You must be surprised when you are doing something. I 
wish to be found practicing these things that I may be able 
to say to God, ' Have I in any respect transgressed thy com- 
mands ? Have I misused my perceptions or my preconcep- 
tions ? . . . Have I not always approached thee with a cheer- 
ful countenance, ready to do thy commands, and to obey thy 
signals ? ' " — Epictetus. 

"And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scrip- 
tures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through 
faith which is in Christ Jesus." — Bible. 

" The saddest of words are, ' The people perish for lack of 
knowledge.' " — Elisha Mulford. 

"The fruits of unity, next unto the well-pleasing of God, 
which is all in all, are two : the one toward those that are 
without the Church, the other toward those that are within. 
. . . Concerning the means of promoting unity, men must 
beware that in procuring the religious unity they do not dis- 
solve and deface the laws of charity, and of human society." — 
Bacon. 



THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 41 



CHAPTER IV. 

1 ' Train up a child in the way he should go : and when he 
is old, he will not depart from it." — Bible. "Initiate the 
child at the opening of his path." — Literal translation of the 
Hebrew. 

THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

THE kindergarten of the Church is a new 
departure in Sunday school work. The 
time has come when thoughtful persons inter- 
ested in young children are looking for better 
methods in the primary department and infant 
classes. The Sunday school has realized that 
from twenty to thirty minutes' time given to 
their instruction one day in seven, amid un- 
suitable surroundings, is not all the care and 
time which the Church ought to give to them. 
The methods, too, have been left to the indi- 
vidual tastes and inclinations of the teachers, 
who often labor with the best intention, 
while conscious of a total lack of training for 
this work. There is the normal training for 
teachers in other departments of the Sunday 
school, but the primary class teachers have 
few aids in this most important work of all. 



42 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

It is without hesitation that we affirm this 
to be the most important work we have to do. 
Plato believed that the first three years, and 
Rousseau that the first year, of child life are 
the important periods. Mr. Gladstone has 
said that " it is a great work to reform, but it 
is a greater work to form ; " and most truly 
the satisfactory results in the development of 
body, mind, and spirit may be expected, if we 
take care of our children after they leave the 
nursery, in their earlier years, and in the Church 
begin the training which will be continued in 
the public schools. 

Bishop J. P. Newman says in a letter to the 
writer : " The infant class once in seven days is 
insufficient. Home training is inadequate. . . . 
Your kindergarten system would cover these 
defects." A system adapted to general appli- 
cation has been lacking. This same need ex- 
isted and was deeply lamented by Froebel in 
his day, when he considered the best means 
for the education of very young children. He 
said : " Great and important are the ideas that 
agitate our period. And this ideal agitation 
is more widespread than any similar move- 
ment in any previous age. It is the issue of 
this agitation which will determine the happi- 
ness and peace of millions of men. No class 
and no condition will be exempt, the high and 



THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 43 

the lowly, dwellers in city and farmers, the 
scholar and the uneducated, each and all will 
be affected by the issue. An inquiry into the 
cause and tendency of this agitation, pervading 
all conditions of life, demonstrates a simple 
and uniform solution, namely: education in 
general, and in particular the education of 
children in their first years of life, preceding 
the age at which they can be received at the 
public school, is the true solution found. 
Listen to the voices of the most thoughtful 
men, experienced fathers, and careful mothers, 
in every condition of life, and you will hear 
them say that their continued observation and 
thought have forced on them the same conclu- 
sion, namely : the education of the youth can- 
not, must not, continue as it is at present. 
This feeling of unrest has induced many ex- 
periments in the educational field. But a 
survey of all the means already proposed as 
improvements, of all the ways already trod, 
fails to find anything that has so really ap- 
proached the desired goal. . . . There is no 
concern of life in the prosecution and in the re- 
sult of which every human being is so intensely 
interested as in the education of the growing 
generation. That is why everybody ought to 
do his utmost to make use of the best educa- 
tional results possible. . . . Education, prop- 



44 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

erly handled, is the most important concern of 
life, the most powerful means for the moral, 
civil, and political development of the na- 
tion."* 

To aid in meeting this demand, and espe- 
cially to help the Church, on her part, in supply- 
ing this force to this end, the kindergarten of 
the Church is projected. 

To avoid misapprehension it is necessary at 
the beginning to say what it is not, that what 
it is may be understood. 

It is not merely a kindergarten, free or 
otherwise, whose daily sessions are held in a 
church edifice ; there are many such ; nor is it 
certain kindergarten principles adapted to the 
use of the primary department work on Sun- 
day ; for this has frequently been attempted. 
While the former has been quite generally suc- 
cessful the latter has usually proved a failure. 
The kindergarten of the Church aims at a more 
satisfactory result than can be obtained by 
these methods, and seeks to do for the chil- 
dren what the Church first showed to be the 
need of the world, namely, greater tenderness 
and more careful and advanced teaching. 

In proportion as science, literature, and art 
have recognized childhood have they been true 
and helpful to any age. Mr. Scudder says : 
* FroebeVs Letters. 



THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 45 

" When poverty and childhood were annexed to 
the poets' domain the world of literature and 
art suddenly became larger ; " and the same 
writer says : " In practical dealing with the 
evils of the world the early Church never lost 
sight of children, and . . . that art is truest 
which sees children at play, or in their moth- 
ers' arms, not in hospitals or graveyards." 
What charm children gave to the writings of 
Wordsworth, Dickens, and Longfellow! Long 
before their time Chaucer wrote of children, and 
tells a pathetic story of a child in " The Prior- 
ess," in Canterbury Tales. In one of the valu- 
able papers which Mr. Scudder has given to us * 
he says : " Since one of the symbols of a per- 
fected Christianity is the child it is not unfair 
to seek for its presence in literature ; nor would 
it be a rare thing to discover it in passages 
which hint at the conflict between the forces 
of good and evil so constantly going on. ... In 
the first springs of English poetic art, in 
Chaucer, the child is, as it were, the mediator 
between the rough story and the melody of 
the singer. One cannot fail to see how the in- 
troduction of the child, by Chaucer, in close 
union with the mother, is almost a transfer of 



* " Childhood in Greek and Roman Literature," " Childhood 
in Early Christianity," "Childhood in English Literature and 
Art," I and II, Horace E. Scudder, Atlantic Monthly. 



46 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

the Madonna into English poetry, a Madonna 
not of ritual but of humanity." The artistic 
Greek and forceful Roman life were touched 
by childhood. Mr. Scudder says : " The in- 
stinct by which we turn to childhood is as old 
as the human race ; " and this, after having 
asked why it is that there is such a movement 
as this in the last few years in literature, art, 
and education. He thinks that the divine rela- 
tionships of the child are perceived, and that 
we realize the child's need. He has said, too, 
" We are apt to look for everything in Shakes- 
peare, but in this matter of childhood we must 
confess that there is a meagerness of reference 
which almost tempts us into constructing a 
theory to account for it;" and he does so by 
saying that the limitations of the stage, at that 
time, easily accounts for the absence of chil- 
dren. He closes his essays with a beautiful 
reference to the Saviour's disciples to-day rec- 
ognizing the needs of children, and to the fact 
that he bade them " allow the children to 
come to him." 

The kindergarten is spiritual in its highest 
sense. Many who are interested in the kinder- 
garten of the Church have used the term 
" secular " when referring to the kindergarten 
of the public school. This is a mistake. A 
very clear explanation of the terms " sacred " 



THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 47 

and " secular " is given by Dr. Josiah Strong : * 
" While the old distinction of sacred and secu- 
lar is thoroughly false and mischievous, it is 
not altogether a distinction without a differ- 
ence. There is a difference which is misinter- 
preted and misnamed. The root differs from its 
fruit, but that difference does not warrant our 
saying that one belongs to the husbandman 
and the other does not ; that the one serves 
him, and the other does not ; that the one has 
much value, and the other little or none. They 
are alike his, and they alike serve. . . . Some 
things minister more directly than others to 
spiritual results, some uses are higher and some 
lower, but every lawful thing is a step some- 
where ' in the great stairway up to God.' 
Whatever has no place in that stairway is not 
* secular,' but unholy, and has no right to be." 
The Church should encourage and aid the 
thousands of accomplished, faithful, devoted 
kindergartners and public school teachers 
throughout our land, as they, with single aim 
and united purpose, are helping the Church to 
obey the command, " Feed my lambs." In our 
Sunday school work there is opportunity for the 
introduction and use of abetter plan for teaching 
the youngest scholars. The kindergarten seeks 
the culture of the mind, and also acknowledges 

* The New Era. 



48 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

the fact that the requirements of the physical 
nature should be met, knowing that a sound 
body is necessary for the free and untram- 
meled action of the mind. 

Recognizing the importance of acquiring 
knowledge, all parents (barring the shiftless 
and unworthy) attempt to place their children 
in a position to secure it, circumstances and 
opinions deciding how much time the child 
shall devote to what they term " education," 
some thinking they have "finished their edu- 
cation " at a certain time when text-books are 
laid aside for "work," losing sight of the 
thought that work was commenced long ago, 
and education will never be finished while 
there is anything to be learned ; for one is 
educated by work as truly as by books. 

Whether the child is in the day school or the 
Sunday school his mind is the same, and may 
be reached and cultivated by the same uni- 
versal methods. If he be favored by having 
contact with a well-trained teacher during five 
days, that little one is wronged if on the Sab- 
bath day he be placed in charge of a teacher 
unfitted for the privilege she has of leading 
him to think of God, and truth in another form. 
The Church needs, and should use, the best 
helps known, because teaching the fresh mind 
of childhood how to grasp and understand the 



THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 49 

word of God is a heaven-given blessing and priv- 
ilege. In our day schools teachers pass exami- 
nations given to test their ability for their work, 
and if incompetent or unfaithful they are ex- 
cused from service. They are required, also, to 
have an understanding of all recent systems 
and helps furnished by training schools ; and a 
teacher in our week day schools who would 
use only those helps in vogue fifteen, or ten, 
or even fewer years ago, would be rejected and 
termed unqualified " to teach a primary school 
until she more fully informs herself." People 
say, sometimes, this or that is " behind the 
times ; " yet how many teachers in our Sunday 
schools are behind the times ! Shall the Church, 
with her millions of children, be less careful 
than the city authorities and school commit- 
tees ? Can she be too vigilant in her oversight 
of the kindergarten, the nursery of the Church, 
where the tender twigs are bent and shaped 
for life ? Can a pastor think it unnecessary to 
provide for the mental and physical care of the 
children ? " Any pastor who has noticed how 
much a lamb frolics just for the fun of it must 
consider the lambs of his flock as belonging 
also to the animal kingdom, have like propen- 
sities, and quite as reasonable and innocent. . . . 
Indeed, they are constitutional necessities, and 
a wise provision should be made for them. 
4 



50 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

The plays, as the prayers, of children are 
worthy of careful parental attention, and a 
system of persistent negatives on juvenile in- 
dulgences will never furnish the recreation that 
childhood needs and age can approbate. Great 
care is needed, therefore, lest one hinder a 
healthy moral and religious development. 
Juvenile piety, if well started and proportioned, 
will not hush the shouting of a boy, or slacken 
his running, or shorten his kite-string. Little 
Samuel, even at Shiloh, must have had some 
childish sports outside of the tabernacle. Many 
an adult Samuel, as well as Hannah and Elka- 
nah, passing for sedate and devoted Church 
members, are pleased with a span, and a lawn, 
and brilliant table service, which are only the 
adult kite, and top, and oar. Possibly some 
fatherly and motherly attention in the line of 
juvenile enjoyments would have saved Hophni 
and Phinehas. With no unjust reflection on 
any Eli, ancient or modern, it might be sug- 
gested that if good men would tremble more 
for the necessary and suitable recreation of their 
little ones they would have less cause in old 
age to tremble for the ark of God." * 

This work of teaching in the Sunday school 
is neither play nor diversion. A teacher must 
give to it mo re time for preparation than a 

* Dr. William Barrows, in The Church and her Children. 



THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 5 1 

few minutes' reading of the Bible or the Les- 
son Leaf on Sunday morning. She must know 
what is said and written in these days about 
children, also about the close proximity of nat- 
ural and spiritual teachings in all departments 
of learning. She should know what new 
methods have come to light and use, in the 
development of mind and in the thought of 
man, during the last decade. Aside from the 
helps offered by the Church and Sunday 
school publications, or any theological work 
by men of your preferred denomination, read 
what others say and write ; it will broaden you. 
It is nearly ten years since John Dewey and 
G. Stanley Hall wrote of the New Psychology, 
and Hamilton W. Mabie of The Spiritual 
Element in Modern Literature, while continu- 
ally there is help in reading the thoughts ex- 
pressed in such articles as The Necessity for 
Moral Training in Public Schools ; The New Ed- 
ucation, by Professor Palmer ; Education, New 
and Old, by Professor Ladd ; Child Study, the 
Basis of Exact Education, by President Hall ; 
and Revelation a Factor in Evolution, by Rev. 
Mr. Johnson ; The Spirit of the New Education, 
by Mrs. Louise Hopkins. It will strengthen 
your mind to discriminate between the ideas 
which are materialistic only, and those which 
recognize the supernatural ; for, while one has 



52 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

said " thought is muscle action," another 
challenges the famous remark of Cabanis, 
that " the brain secretes thought as the liver 
secretes bile ; " and in all your studies and 
windings of thought and reflection you will 
find, as Mr. Fiske, trudging cheerfully on in 
the path of evolution, found, that path lead- 
ing straight on to God and immortality, 
and conclude with him that there is an im- 
mense gain for the cherished religious hopes of 
the race in the very facts and theories which 
have seemed to Christians so alarming. * Not 
only will your knowledge of life and its oppor- 
tunities be increased by such reading, but your 
faith will be strengthened also. 

It is not too exacting to say that the teacher 
should have a love and adaptation for her special 
work, together with a quick and studious mind. 
She should enjoy this with unbounded enthu- 
siasm, though it be hard work to bear each 
little child with his interests on her heart, to 
understand all the peculiarities and imaginings 
of childhood ; but for all labor bestowed there 
is marvelous compensation. One expresses this 
thought thus : " The charm of the varying indi- 
viduality and of the refreshing presence of con- 
science yet unprofaned is greater than can be 

* Andover Review, June, 1885, on "The Destiny of Man 
Viewed in the Light of his Origin," John Fiske. 



THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 53 

found elsewhere in this workday world. Those 
were not idle words which came from the lips 
of Wisdom Incarnate, ' Their angels do always 
behold the face of my Father,' and 'of 
such is the kingdom of heaven.' And most 
truly it is a verified promise unto the little 
ones, ' Blessed are the pure in heart : for they 
shall see God.' It must be because they see 
Him who is invisible that they are able to 
soothe us in sorrow, cheer us in despair, and 
chase away the perplexities and cares of this 
busy world and its disappointments. 

"The kindergarten principle must be used 
by the Church, for it is her privilege to employ 
the true and fundamental idea of its teaching." 

The study of the Bible is a strong feature of 
the work in Germany, but in the public schools 
of this country it cannot be carried out ; in 
America it has not been done. The Church 
only is free to employ and to use the kin- 
dergarten idea in its widest scope and in the 
comprehensive meaning of its reforms. She 
should see this opportunity, and in the broad- 
est spirit of nonsectarianism, without bigotry 
or teaching of creeds, work unitedly for the 
uplifting of mankind. The Church must see 
and recognize the fact that reformation is in 
the air. In methods of teaching in the pub- 
lic schools what changes have come to pass 



54 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

within the last decade ! — in methods of preach- 
ing, painting, architecture, revision of creeds, 
changes in business measures, multiplicity of 
organization in the social world, careful study 
of special themes and special trades, together 
with improvement in municipal government. 

The growth of the kindergarten has been 
slow. Mr. Heinemann's book gives a con- 
densed and vivid history of the kindergarten. 
Froebel said, when dying, that these Letters 
give a clearer expression of his ideas upon edu- 
cation than any other of his writings. We 
read there that he tried to provide for a sym- 
pathetic helpfulness in family life. The great 
indifference to responsibility and order on the 
part of young people, and the lack of a tender 
consideration which should be shown to each 
other by different members of the family, we 
realize in our life to-day; hence we have as 
great need of means promotive of harmony 
and loving sympathy as had the people of Ger- 
many when educational unions were first pro- 
jected by Froebel, though they were not or- 
ganized until after his death. The Church, in 
God's order, comes next to the family, both in 
the Old and New Testaments. The history of 
the family precedes that of ordinances, sacri- 
fices, Church. The need of the world to-day 
is a personal contact between the family and 



THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 55 

the Church, the individual and the Christ. Let 
the fathers and mothers know by a practical 
proof that the Church is interested in their 
family and in the cultivation of their home life, 
and let the children of to-day receive loving 
Christian care for their bodies and guidance 
for their minds from the Church. Then the 
men and women of the future will be able to 
say that the family and the Church prepared 
them for life in the great world before they 
entered it in the public school days. " These 
child members are the Church in germ. They 
are what the nursery rows are to the future 
fruit orchard. . . . The Church of the future does 
lie potentially in her child members ; and we 
have been paying far too much attention, rela- 
tively, to old wild olive trees."* 

One feature of the Church kindergarten work 
is that there need not be class distinctions. This 
may be a useful key to some problems in social 
life. There are kindergartens where children of 
wealthy citizens only are admitted, with high 
tuition fees, and in some of these the number of 
pupils is limited to fourteen or twenty. There 
are also kindergartens supported by associa- 
tions, doing noble work for the very poor — the 
mission kindergartens ; many of them hold 
their sessions in churches. If the Church would 
* William Barrows, D.D. 



56 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

take up this work and come in touch, as she 
only can, with all her people, what great ad- 
vantages may come to them ! 

The Church should open her doors both for 
worship on the Sabbath and for everyday in- 
struction to all, rich and poor together. This 
can be done. In one instance for months it 
has been done. Whereas there will always be 
"rich and poor," and different degrees of glory 
for different stars, let the Church show that 
she desires to give the children the first chance, 
the right start, and the opportunity for devel- 
opment. 

The significance of the circle can be brought 
out and amplified more perfectly in a kinder- 
garten of the Church than it can elsewhere, 
because here there is no distinction between 
rich and poor. A writer gives us a very beau- 
tiful description of Frau Froebel and of her 
visit to one of the German kindergartens.* 
The teacher asked Frau Froebel, at the close 
of the session, what could be done to improve 
the kindergarten, and her reply gave a very 
clear explanation of the meaning of the circle. 
She says : " What I missed most is the union 
of all the children and kindergartners in the 
circle at the beginning and at the close, and 

* Marie Heinemann, in FroebeVs Letters, A. H. Heine- 






THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. $? 

the songs in which all should join. The kin- 
dergarten is the first community or state or- 
ganization into which the child is introduced. 
It is not enough that he should merely learn to 
do his duty there as an individual, but he must 
be led to feel and experience that he is a member 
of an organic whole, and must do his share 
toward making and keeping it an harmonious 
whole. He must feel himself a necessary mem- 
ber in his class or section, as a smaller whole to 
which he belongs, and feel as well that this 
lesser whole is again a member of a larger 
whole constituted by the entire kindergarten. 
In that way the kindergarten must be made 
the prototype of human society. This idea 
is made a living sentiment and an active mo- 
tive in the child by the daily reunion of all the 
members of the kindergarten in the circle and 
the song at the commencement and close of 
the exercise." Frau Froebel expressed also 
the opinion that a similar reunion should occur 
each day in every educational institution. 

The Church can show the true standards of 
social elevation, and can correct in a great 
measure any idea that a commercial value 
should be set upon life. Let her teach that 
character is the standard of excellence, and let 
her show that it is possible to incorporate the 
noble virtues of peace, love, and gentleness, 



58 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

and to carry out the spirit of the thirteenth 
chapter of First Corinthians. 

Bishop Lawrence, of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church, in an address delivered in Boston 
last December to ministers of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, said: "First, There should be 
advance in intellectual lines. . . . The only safety 
for the Church is to receive every new thought 
and principle that comes well attested and well 
tested. Second, There should be advance in 
the relation of the Church and of the ministry 
to the social problems of the day. In our larger 
places family life is giving way to the more pro- 
miscuous social life. Third, In personal and 
spiritual relations there should be advance. . . . 
The final test is not institutionalism, not dog- 
mas, but the personal character." 

Very recently, while in conversation with 
one of the most successful priests of the Ro- 
man Catholic Church, he said to me that he 
believed that all Christians will unite against 
unbelievers, and in this issue will unity of 
Church life and effort center. That plan seems 
to me less reasonable than that all Churches 
and all classes, touched by the power of 
Christ and obedient to his teaching of the 
intimate relationship between morality and 
religion, forgetting creeds and dogmas, unite 
upon the educational and social problems of 



THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 59 

the day and solve them in the spirit of the 
Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of 
man. To do this successfully the Church of 
God should give greater attention to the ed- 
ucation of children, and begin with them to 
lay the foundation of a sound and symmetrical 
social structure. 

When the school age is reached the State 
will carry on what the home and the Church 
have begun, and a Christian citizen, with his 
brotherly heart alive to all concerns of his 
country, will be the result. 



" The universe is not dead and demoniacal, a charnel house 
with specters ; but God-like and my Father's ! With other 
eyes, too, could I now look upon my fellow-man with an 
infinite love, an infinite pity. Poor, wandering, wayward 
man ! Art thou not tried, and beaten with many stripes, 
even as I am ? Ever, whether thou bear the royal mantle or 
the beggar's gabardine art thou not so weary, so heavy 
laden ; and thy bed of rest is but a grave. O my brother, my 
brother, why cannot I shelter thee in my bosom and wipe 
away all tears from thy eyes ? Truly, the din of many- voiced 
life, which in this solitude, with mind's organ, I could hear, 
was no longer a maddening discord, but a melting one ; like 
inarticulate cries and sobbings of a dumb creature, which in 
the ear of Heaven are prayers. The poor earth, with her poor 
joys, was now my needy mother, not my cruel stepdame ; 
man, with his so mad wants and so mean endeavors, had be- 
come the dearer to me ; and even for his sufferings and his sins 
I now first named him brother." — Carlyle, in Sartor Resartus. 

"Come, take courage! the souls of men are bells of the 
same metal ; they give out, whether on the heights or at the 
base of the mountain, the same sound." — Lamartine. 

" What, my soul, was thy errand here? 

Was it mirth or ease, 
Or heaping up dust from year to year ? 

1 Nay, none of these ! ' " — Whittier. 

" O verdure of human fields, cottages of men and women 
(that now seemed all brothers and sisters), cottages with 
children around them at play. . . . O summer and spring, 
flowers and blossoms, to which, as his symbols, God has 
given the gorgeous privilege of rehearsing forever upon 
earth his most mysterious perfection. . . . Life and the resur- 
rection of life ! " — De Quincey. 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 6l 



CHAPTER V. 

" And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath : 
but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord." — Bible. 

THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 

a. The Family. 

THE family is the first institution of hu- 
manity. It is recognized by God. It is 
found among both uncivilized and civilized 
people, and even animal and vegetable life is 
thus classified. 

Among human beings the joys and love of 
the family life are proportionate to the love, 
sympathy, and knowledge of the individuals in 
the family. The happy families in a community 
are those where each member considers the 
others, and there is loving, helpful, intelligent 
service given to each other. In such a family the 
father is recognized as more than the business 
manager and breadwinner ; his chief concern 
is not commercialism. Together the father 
and mother confer, guide, and govern as the 
united and acknowledged heads of the family, 
the friends and companions of their children. 



62 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

A man wholly given to business life dwarfs 
his social powers, while one who develops the 
latter only with his business acquaintances, at 
the clubs, lodges, or board of trade (all of 
which are legitimate, any reasonable person 
will admit), deprives his family of the joy and 
uplifting influence of his personality, and they 
do not receive, therefore, all they have a right 
to expect. 

The social life of a man is to be cultivated. 
" Tell him and show him that he places his 
affections wrong, that he seeks for delight 
where delight will never be really found ; then 
you illumine and further him. But you only 
confuse him by telling him to cease to desire 
happiness ; and you will not tell him this un- 
less you are already confused yourself." * It is 
a perversion of truth to tell a man that he 
should not seek happiness and enjoyment ; he 
should, and yet not always in one place with 
one "set," but let a part, and a large part, of 
his recreation be with his family and in com- 
panionship with them. In family life there is 
always variety. 

The domestic life and the Church life of a 
man demand a proportionate arrangement of his 
plans and a proper disposal of his time. His 
business life and habits are but one part of 

* Matthew Arnold, in Discourses in America. 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 63 

his life; the other parts need exercise and 
development. One has concisely stated great 
truths in saying : " His powers are to be un- 
folded on account of their inherent dignity, 
not their outward direction. He is to be 
educated because he is a man, not because he 
is to make shoes, nails, or pins. A trade is 
not plainly the great end of his being, for his 
mind cannot be shut up in it ; his force of 
thought cannot be exhausted on it. He has 
faculties to which it gives no action, and 
deep wants it cannot answer. Poems and 
systems of theology and philosophy, which 
have made some noise in the world, have 
been wrought at the work bench and amid the 
toils of the field. How often when the arms 
are mechanically plying a trade does the mind, 
lost in reverie or day-dreams, escape to the 
ends of the earth ? How often does the pious 
heart of woman mingle the greatest of all 
thoughts, that of God, with household drudg- 
ery ? Undoubtedly a man is to perfect him- 
self in his trade, for by it he is to earn his 
bread and to serve the community. But bread 
or subsistence is not his highest good, for, if it 
were, his lot would be harder than that of the 
inferior animals, for whom nature spreads a 
table and weaves a wardrobe without a care of 
their own. Nor was he made chiefly to min- 



64 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

ister to the wants of the community. . . . You 
tell me that a liberal culture is needed for 
men who are to fill high stations, but not for 
such as are doomed to vulgar labor. I answer 
that man is a greater name than president or 
king. Truth and goodness are equally precious 
in whatever sphere they are found. Besides, 
men of all conditions sustain equally the rela- 
tions which give birth to the highest virtues 
and demand the highest powers. The laborer 
is not a mere laborer. He has close, tender, 
responsible connections with God and his fel- 
low-creatures. He is a son, husband, father, 
friend, and Christian. He belongs to a home, 
a church, a county, a race. . . . To educate a 
child perfectly requires profounder thought, 
greater wisdom, than to govern a State, and for 
this plain reason, that the interests and wants 
of the latter are more superficial, coarser, and 
more obvious than the spiritual capacities, the 
growth of thought and feeling, and the subtle 
laws of the mind, which must all be studied and 
comprehended before the work of education 
can be thoroughly performed, and yet to all 
conditions this greatest work on earth is 
equally committed by God." * 

His part of this work a man must do, and 
in order to do it, in this day of business per- 

* William Ellery Channing. 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 65 

plexity, commercial rivalry, and dazzling glit- 
ter of electrical and other scientific progress, he 
must plan for time of recreation and quiet, else 
all too soon the busy brain and beating 
heart will have reached their limits. 

A noted teacher who is good authority says : 
" My own profession constantly brings before 
me instances of an immorality — so I think it 
should be called — which proceeds simply from 
want of instruction in morals, which has most 
disastrous consequences, and which, I believe, 
the Church could cure. I mean the habit which 
fathers have of delegating altogether to others 
the education of their children. Not from any 
indifference to the welfare of their children, not 
from any deliberate contempt for moral obliga- 
tion, but simply from never having had this 
particular duty pointed out to them, they be- 
come guilty of a neglect the immediate conse- 
quences of which are sometimes startling, and 
the less direct and obvious consequences be- 
yond calculation. I have met with young 
men who have been suffered to grow up in an 
incredible intellectual barbarism, the father 
working conscientiously for them all the time, 
but delegating altogether the particular work 
of education. I do not suppose such extreme 
cases are common ; the majority of parents 
are not so unfortunate in their choice of dele- 



66 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

gates ; they find teachers for their sons who 
are tolerably competent to teach, and they 
persuade themselves, no doubt, that it is really 
best not to interfere with those who have made 
a special study of the art of education. The 
principle of division of labor is adopted. The 
father has not time to do all that is necessary 
to be done for his children ; part he will do 
himself, but part must be intrusted to others. 
He hands over to others the child's education, 
his mind, his soul. He reserves to himself the 
finance department. It is not easy to estimate 
the mischief produced by this division of labor. 
I know scarcely any cause from which the com- 
munity suffers so much. In the first place, 
consider the effect produced upon the parent 
himself. It is open to him to give so much 
time and thought to educating his children, or 
the same amount of both to making the money 
to pay for their education ; and he elects the 
latter. In other words, he chooses an occupa- 
tion which is in many cases the most sordid 
and illiberal drudgery, and in very few cases 
can be highly improving, instead of the most 
improving occupation in which he can be en- 
gaged. Surely there is no task which life 
brings with it, at least to the average man, cal- 
culated to raise him so much as the task of 
educating his children. It is by far the great- 






THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 6j 

est and most delicate problem which he ever 
has to solve. It demands all his powers of 
thought and contrivance, and by making so 
constant a demand upon them forms and dis- 
ciplines them at the same time it disciplines 
the affections. In short, a man cannot educate 
his children without at the same time in a 
much greater degree educating himself. What 
trade or profession does as much for the man 
who follows it ? Not, perhaps, the most intel- 
lectual of all ; and assuredly a good many of 
the occupations by which men make money 
are for all other purposes a mere waste of 
time. 

"But what is the effect upon the children 
themselves ? I am not, of course, maintaining 
that the father should take the place of the 
schoolmaster, but that he should actively co- 
operate with the schoolmaster and supplement 
his work. Now his neglect of this duty to a 
great extent paralyzes the schoolmaster. We 
have recently been told on good authority that 
the high average culture of the Scotch is due 
mainly to parental influence in education. It 
is to find an equivalent for this in England 
that we are always hopelessly laboring. That 
division of labor by which the parent loses 
so much is, even for its special purpose, a 
mistake. 



68 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

" But if the child's intellectual loss is great 
his moral loss is perhaps still greater. When 
the father elects to perform his parental duties 
entirely in the counting house he practically 
surrenders his claim to filial affection. Instead 
of sympathy, personal care, and intimate friend- 
ship, such a father only gives his son money, 
a gift which will not inspire any enthusiastic 
gratitude. Distant respect is all that he can 
look for, and in the want of filial feelings the 
son loses more than the father loses by not in- 
spiring them." * 

The quiet joys of domestic life afford a con- 
tent and a strength, both mental and physical, 
not found elsewhere. In order to have this 
happiness, however, the mother must deny her- 
self (if it be denial) some pleasures of associa- 
tion with women who are busy in the many 
fields open to them, and who have work to do 
toward helping the people in the world to be 
better and to do better ; but whatever other 
gifts a woman may have inherited or acquired, 
her first duty is to be a home maker and an ed- 
ucator. If the burden of government and the 
duties of legislation are put upon her, who else 
can provide fireside comforts for the weary 
and care for the small children, teaching them 

* Sir J. R. Seely, M. A., of Cambridge University, Professor 
of Modern History. 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 69 

temperance, patience, gentleness, and the vir- 
tues of life? No self-assumed cares or ap- 
pointed burdens of government can excuse 
woman from these God-given duties ; and eras- 
ing the word " male " from a statute does not 
change her relation toward God or her family, 
for "male and female created he them." Granted 
that all rights and privileges of citizenship be- 
long to woman, and that she is equal or supe- 
rior (as some are ready to say) to man, and also 
that the world would be better governed than 
it now is were she to " rule the world " and 
never "rock the cradle," where is she to find 
opportunity to inform herself concerning men 
and measures, in order that she may vote in- 
telligently ? Some things she must do, and 
after these are done where is the time left for 
state duties? 

As to the property question, I have never 
heard that objection raised in a single instance 
by a woman who had any property to be 
taxed. My experience has been that I have 
heard women who have great wealth say that 
they are satisfied, and feel that men guard 
their interests as well as women would. 

Look again at the family, and let parents 
appreciate this fact. A number of people are 
at work helping you in training your children. 
Here is one instance which is but a sample of 



yo THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

very many. Two of the four children of a 
certain family are in my kindergarten. They 
live in a neat little Christian home and have 
good home training. In the kindergarten, 
besides myself, are four other teachers who, 
with the pastor, know these children, and come 
in daily contact with them ; five teachers 
and a pastor directly interested in them five 
mornings in each week. That is good, but 
they are in the Presbyterian Sunday school on 
Sunday, so their own pastor and Sunday 
school superintendent are also interested in 
them, making eight persons. I find, moreover, 
that in the way their Sunday school is graded 
the four-year-old child has one teacher and 
the six-year-old child another. Well, that makes 
ten persons whom the Church gives to the 
parents as aids in training their children. 
You reflect a moment and say, " Very true ; 
that is good ! " But the two older children 
are also in Sunday school and in public 
school ; each child has a good teacher in each 
school, thus increasing the number of helpers 
by four, and we find that fourteen earnest, 
educated people are trying to help the father 
and mother to train these children for Chris- 
tian citizenship. If any father reflects upon 
this will he grudge a voluntary contribution to 
the Church or a prescribed tax to the State ? 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. ?I 

Children do not, however, have sufficient 
instruction in true liberty ; too often they are 
overindulged, or they are neglected and some- 
times considered — shall I say it ? — " in the 
way ! " 

It is no sign of retarded progress that many 
people long for a return of the peaceful home 
life of the family upon evenings and Sundays, 
times when the boys and girls do not scatter 
to meet " engagements " as soon as the even- 
ing meal is eaten. And right here the Church 
has a work to do in encouraging people to stay 
at home ; church services should not be ap- 
pointed for every evening of the week, for there- 
by the thoughts and concerns of home life are 
dissipated. While the Church should have a 
concern for the family, this should be shown in 
reference to the higher intellectual and spiritual 
life, and not so much as it has been toward 
ministering to physical gratification and mere 
entertainment. What the Church needs most 
to-day is a revival of worship and education. 

Let the home life be pure, and sweet, and 
wholesome, in reading, and singing, and conver- 
sation ; let the members of the family enjoy 
each other. It is not among the humble 
homes only that the children are neglected. 
One of the most painful instances I have 
known of the vagrant life of the family I met 



72 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

where there were father, mother, and six chil- 
dren, where the father was a successful manu- 
facturer, wholly given to business and religion 
— in church. The mother was absorbed in 
modern church work, social and culinary, and all 
the children were highly talented, devoted prin- 
cipally to the study of piano, violin, and dramatic 
art, so that their evenings were engaged ; the 
home was open most hospitably to friends of all 
the members of the family, with servants always 
in attendance ; but through a long acquaint- 
ance I have never seen the family together in 
the house, except at the funeral of one of the 
children. 

In contrast to this is the family life of a 
cashier of a bank, who is not an enrolled 
member of any church, but who spends a few 
minutes with his wife and three children, in 
the dining room, immediately after breakfast 
each morning, when one of the family reads a 
few words from the Bible, and all say the 
Lord's Prayer before separating for the day. 

In another home, where the demands of a 
trade require the father's early departure, the 
family gathering is for a little time just after 
supper, when they sing a hymn, and sometimes 
a portion of the Bible is read and the Lord's 
Prayer repeated. Frequently they add to this 
a short program, with a story from the school 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 73 

Reader, and one of the children speaks a piece 
he has learned for school exercises ; they talk, 
and laugh, and get acquainted with each other. 

Froebel said that the kindergarten had its 
place and work in the promotion of family- 
life ; and very beautifully is this idea carried 
out in all his writings, also in the games and 
plays where even the fingers are represented 
as members of a family. His friend and co- 
worker, Colonel von Arnswald, says: "It is 
this deterioration of the family which causes 
the complaints which are everywhere heard of 
the want of discipline and order in youth;" 
and we may well add, of reverence, courtesy, 
and gallantry also. 

This is so because concerns outside the home 
trespass on its rights, and take the time which 
should be given to each other in the home 
circle. Too often the children are allowed to 
drift in their thoughts, when the more mature 
mind of the parents should guide and moor 
the thought to some truth, clear and positive ; 
then, later, agnosticism would be an impossi- 
bility. The home environment is the universe 
to the child, and little by little this enlarges, 
first, in the church kindergarten, then the 
school — the broader school life and university 
life. But the home life is the foundation of 
all. Let it be solid enough to stand all future 



74 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

testing, and to support a colossal character. 
Growth means change in form, expression, and 
thought. To each life, whether thoughtful 
and prepared for it or not, there comes a 
period marked by a great change ; one has 
called it the " Ephebic stage of youth," where 
" we find that adolescence is a physiological 
second birth ; new traits, and diseases, organs 
and cells are developed, boys and girls become 
independent, must devote themselves to others 
and to causes. . . . The religious sense is deep- 
ened."* Happy is the child when in such 
time he can turn to his parents for direction, 
and happy the parents who have won and re- 
tained his confidence. 

The writer last quoted refers, also, to the 
material conceptions of God which obtain in 
" the theological and religious life of children," 
and of the " infant philosophy on the ebb at 
the beginning of school life, and very persist- 
ent, though as hard for an adult to get at 
as for an electric light to study shadows;" 
and he refers also to the " doubts," " question- 
ings," and " criticisms " which come later. How 
familiar these traits and assertions of self are 
to us, the egotism of fourteen and superior 
wisdom of two or three years later ! After- 

* President G. Stanley Hall, in The Forum, December, 
1893, " Child Study the Basis of Exact Education." 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 75 

ward in more serious life comes another period, 
marked by doubts and balancing of questions. 
At this point the family help apparently falls 
short for a time, and perhaps it was then that the 
prayer for the abiding One was offered — " when 
other helpers fail and comforts flee," and the 
spirit, the life within, seeks to know whether 
the foundations are safe and sure, and asks 
whether the moorings have been washed away 
by the constant lapping and swashing of the 
waves of doubt. Happy and strong in individ- 
ual Christian manhood or womanhood is one 
who can rest upon the sure foundation, and, 
"nothing before, nothing behind," can say, 
" The steps of faith fall on the seeming void, 
and find the rock beneath." 

Let us hope that the family pew is not an 
institution of the past. Let the " free seats " 
go as well as " the masses," and while working 
with and for the individual let the family pew 
be a dear and familiar place to him. It 
seems as fitting to have a place in the church 
as to have a place at the family table, and 
those who clamor loudest for free seats are 
the ones who always sit in the one place when 
at service, and "do not feel at home on the 
other side of the church ; " they must have, too, 
a reserved seat even in a concert hall. 

The larger the church the more essential is 



j6 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

it that people have their places, where the 
father, mother, and children may sit together 
during public worship. I hear much of this 
from the standpoint of the pulpit. This is the 
seventh successive year my pastor has minis- 
tered to a membership of more than a thou- 
sand persons, and for the past fourteen months 
free seats have often caused him bewilderment 
while trying to place the families and to look 
after them. A pastor of a large flock needs 
all the aids he can have in caring for the fam- 
ilies and for the individuals, and the family 
pew is one great aid. One Sunday recently, 
seeing a father and one child sitting near me, 
I wondered whether the mother or others of 
the family were ill ; but on leaving the church 
at the close of the service I saw that the 
mother had been sitting elsewhere, and two 
young women, the daughters, had been seated 
in the rear of the church with their friends. 

The same day a father and mother were 
seated with several young persons — evi- 
dently strangers to them — and their children 
were in another part of the church. However 
much may be said in favor of free seats, much 
more can be said in favor of the family pew. 
The unity of the family, in the church life, 
should be preserved ! 

" The Rediscovery of the Inner Life " is 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. JJ 

treated at length, in a strong and most fasci- 
nating way, by a well-known writer, and in the 
beginning he says : " You are well acquainted 
with a fact of life to which I may as well call 
your attention forthwith, the fact, namely, that 
certain stages of growing intelligence, and even 
of growing spiritual knowledge, are marked by 
an inevitable and, at first sight, lamentable 
decline, in apparent depth and vitality of spirit- 
ual experience. The greatest concerns of our 
lives are in such stages of our growth ; some 
are for a while hidden, even forgotten. We 
become more knowing, more clever, more crit- 
ical, more wary, more skeptical, but we seem- 
ingly do not grow more profound or more 
reverent. We find in the world much that en- 
gages our curious attention ; we find little that 
is sublime. Our world becomes clearer ; a 
brilliant, hard, mid-morning light shines upon 
everything ; but this light does not seem to 
us any longer divine. The deeper beauty of 
the universe fades out ; only facts and prob- 
lems are left. . . . Doubt is never the proper 
end of thinking, but it is a good beginning. . . . 
The soul that never has doubted does not know 
whether it believes. . . . Doubt is the cloud 
that is needed as a background for love's 
rainbow." * But when the storm passes away 

* The Spirit of Modern Philosophy, Josiah Royce, Ph.D. 



78 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

how clear and bright and hopeful is the rain- 
bow, at once the promise of God and its ful- 
fillment ! 

The training of the imagination and art 
teaching should be begun in the family and 
the kindergarten. 

Instead of a suppressed caution against 
naughty action, accompanied by a threat of 
that traditional horror of children, " the rag- 
man," give a beautiful, attractive thought to 
divert the child ; help him to forget to be 
naughty rather than to remember to be good. 
Teach him the artistic, and later the scientific, 
meaning of all manual labor, that he may al- 
ways honor work and workers. 

In this day of investigation, analysis is mi- 
nutely followed in the schools, and there should 
be greater attention given to the training of 
the other side of the mind — the imaginative 
and the art influence. 

It is always gratifying to find professional 
authority corroborating one's views upon any 
subject, and I was glad to read in the report of 
Professor Fenelosa's address before the Eastern 
Kindergarten Association these statements : 

" Those who speak for the public are right 
in demanding art for all — the artists are right 
in insisting that art implies a distinctive faculty. 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 79 

"Art teaching is not, primarily, meant to 
teach pupils to become artists, but rather to 
train their artistic perception. Art can per- 
meate conduct, manners, and speech ; it may- 
beautify the commonest utensil. While an 
industrial training teaches one to earn a living 
art training is almost as important, for it 
teaches a true enjoyment of life. It is self- 
satisfactory, an inward help. 

" I take imagination to be as exact, if not as 
definite, as mathematics. Imagination means 
the ability to form a simple, single clear image 
of things. 

" This faculty should be cultivated in the 
young by proper methods of art education, for 
the modern habit of analysis is clean against 
the growth of true imagination, as I have de- 
fined it." 

Mr. Herbert Spencer has written of Pro- 
fessor Tyndall's insistance in " the scientific 
use of the imagination," and shows that strange 
and many ideas concerning imagination pre- 
vail generally, and he says : " Superstitious 
people, whose folklore is full of tales of fairies 
and the like, are said to be imaginative, while 
nobody ascribes imagination to the inventor 
of a new machine. Were this conception of 
imagination the true one, it would imply that, 
whereas children and savages are largely en- 



80 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

dowed with it, and whereas it is displayed in 
a high degree by poets of the first order, it is 
deficient in those having intermediate types of 
mind. But, as rightly conceived, imagination 
is the power of mental representation, and is 
measured by the vividness and truth of this 
representation. So conceived it is seen to dis- 
tinguish, not poets only, but men of science." 

What a sacred work is that of the family, 
each member assisting the other members 
in this work of development and training for 
the after-life in Church and State ! 

The voice of song should be fostered and 
developed in every household ; and it is a hope- 
ful sign of an increasing love for music that so 
many families have a musical instrument, either 
a piano or an organ. 

No such question, either with or without its 
decision, could come before an assembly of 
people in this land to-day as was proposed at 
a convocation in Bridgewater in 1655, where 
the following proposition was discussed : * 
'• Whether a believing man or woman, being 
the head of a family in this day of the Gospel, 
may keep in his or her house instruments of 
musicke, playing on them, or admitting others 
to play on them ? " The answer was given 
with a text of Scripture which has often been 

* Andover Review, January, 1885. 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 8 1 

perverted to teach absurd and unchristian as- 
ceticisms : "It is the duty of the saintes to 
abstaine from all appearance of evil, and not 
make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts 
thereof." 

Too much cannot be said in favor of sing- 
ing. Sometimes it is undervalued as a means 
of education. Froebel said, " Let me urge 
on you to foster every breath of song in your 
family ; children's song is to the family what 
the song of birds is to the leafy grove." The 
boys who sing understandingly and heartily, 
" Dare to do right, Dare to be true," will re- 
member the idea, when in association with 
melody, longer than they would, it is probable, 
as an abstract command or caution without 
the carrying power of song. Goethe has said 
that " Song is the first step in education ; all 
the rest is connected with it and attained by 
means of it. The simplest enjoyment as well as 
the simplest instruction we enliven and impress 
by song ; nay, even what religious and moral 
principles we lay before the children are commu- 
nicated in the way of song. . . . Among all imag- 
inable things, accordingly, we have selected 
music as the element of our teaching, for level 
roads grow out from music toward every side." 

This writer has in his descriptions of the 
power of music upon the mind, and also of the 
6 



2>2 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

art of listening and enjoying, given valuable 
aid to me in work during five years in a Sun- 
day school, where the close proximity of other 
departments of the school often made the prog- 
ress of the lesson impossible, an orchestra of 
fifteen pieces being in an adjoining room. At 
such times I would have my little flock (aver- 
aging an attendance of about eighty, all under 
nine years) fold their hands in their laps, shut 
their eyes and listen ; then, shutting my own 
eyes, I could easily imagine myself the only ex- 
istence in the world, so quiet were the little 
ones. Sometimes for three minutes, and occa- 
sionally for five, they would thus listen. Once 
I told them of the great-hearted German* who 
said that is a grand way to do. He wrote it 
in a book, that people might know the best 
way of hearing an orchestra. 

Biographies of the great musicians show the 
influence of home atmosphere upon their 
works. The great Johann Sebastian Bach, 
born in the illustrious Eisenach, Thuringia, in- 
herited a love for music from his great-great- 
grandfather, the good old miller from Hungary, 
who played his flute to the grinding of the corn. 
It is most interesting to read of the growth of 
this wonderful family of Bachs and of the de- 
velopment of their abilities. 
* Goethe. 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 83 

The son of the miller was " apprenticed to 
the town piper," and was the first of this 
great family to adopt music as a voca- 
tion. He had three sons, all musicians ; one of 
these had four, one of whom was the great 
Sebastian. It is said that " when his fame was 
at its height there were thirty Bachs holding 
positions as organists in Thuringia, Franconia, 
and Saxony ; yet their fame was not wide- 
spread, owing to their shyness of society and 
their tastes being of the domestic order. Once 
a year all the Bach families met at Erfurt, 
Eisenach, or Arnstadt, in a great family re- 
union, which served to renew their mutual in- 
terest in art and to keep warm family affec- 
tion." * It is an interesting fact that Johann 
Sebastian Bach and Friedrich Froebel, both 
born near the Thuringian Forest, one in 1685, 
the other in 1782, should have the recognition 
in advanced methods of piano technique, and 
the new education, which they hold to-day. 
The modern lower point stroke and equal fin- 
ger development used by Liszt and some of his 
predecessors is the principle formed by Bach. 

Handel's f home life was of opportunity, 



* History, Biography, and Literature of Eminent Com- 
posers, W. U. Derthick. 

f Martin Luther, Eisleben, Saxony, 1483. George Freder- 
ick Handel, Halle, Saxony, 1685. 



84 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

and his associations being of the best charac- 
ter, fortune favored him above many of his fel- 
low-musicians, and, as with all the great mas- 
ters, he made a study of reverence and religion. 
Though his talent was used in many and di- 
verse ways, yet it is by his religious work that 
he is best known and most honored in Eng- 
land to-day. 

The same is true of Joseph Haydn, who, 
it is said, when on a visit to London, where 
he heard the hallelujah chorus from Handel's 
" Messiah," burst into tears and exclaimed, 
" He is master of us all ! " Haydn was the 
second of nineteen children, and his greatest 
pleasure in boyhood was found in singing with 
his father, frequently accompanying himself 
" in perfect time and tune with two sticks in 
imitation of a violin." After his court suc- 
cesses, and in his sixty-fourth year, he wrote his 
greatest work, the oratorio " The Creation." 

It is sad that Bach and Handel should 
have been blind, and Beethoven deaf, in age ; 
but how heroic and true to their ideals were 
they even to the last ! Beethoven, as the son 
of an intemperate father — though he had 
the loving encouragement of his mother to 
help him — did not realize the advantage of 
home joy until he found it in the family 
of some pupils who loved him, and whose 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 85 

mother had provided the refinements of an at- 
tractive home. Coming into intimate associa- 
tion with this family, he had intellectual im- 
pulses quickened, and had ideals which found 
expression in his masterly works. 

The pretty glimpses we have of the home 
life of Mozart and his little sister, together with 
their parents, furnish never-failing pleasure 
when told to little children. Perhaps his home 
influence was more attractive and spontane- 
ous than that of the others ; religious prin- 
ciples were taught and lived in the domestic 
circle, and Mozart's influence and spirit move 
us because of the Lifegiver's touch- — the 
Christian life, unfolding itself and being devel- 
oped outwardly, touching other lives. " Give 
me," said Archimedes, "a point outside the 
world, and I will move the earth from its 
poles." And an historian* says : " True Chris- 
tianity is the point which raises the heart of 
man from its double pivot of selfishness and 
sensuality, and which will one day turn the 
whole world from its evil ways and make it re- 
volve on a new axis of righteousness." 

The family, with the aid of the Church, can 
prepare children for the broader world await- 
ing them ; but let us, above all, and first of all, 
have a pure, elevating tone of helpfulness and 

* D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation. 



86 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

love under and about all home associations. 
The exhortation which Lamb gave to his 
friend Coleridge, in a letter written in 1797, is 
one we would do well to repeat to ourselves 
and to our friends : 

" O, my friend, cultivate the filial feelings ! 
and let no man think himself released from the 
kind charities of relationship ; these shall give 
him peace at last ; these are the best founda- 
tion for every species of benevolence. I rejoice 
to hear that you are reconciled with all your 
relations." 

The Rev. J. M. Buckley, D.D., expresses 
these thoughtful words in what he calls " A 
Question : " 

"Analysis supported by many confessions, 
and by side remarks more valuable than these, 
shows that that which holds a large proportion 
of men in middle life to the particular denomi- 
nation to which they belong, and to the doc- 
trines which underlie it, is the ineradicable 
effect of the training given them by pious, be- 
lieving, persistent parents. Many of them 
have tried — and many of them are trying now 
— to shake off the mental and moral harness 
woven strand by strand by pious mothers and 
tightly bound together by conscientious fa- 
thers. They sometimes seem to themselves 
to succeed, but soon feel the constraining 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 87 

pressure ; their doubts disappear, and if with- 
out the Church they say to themselves, ' I 
must become a Christian ; ' and if in the 
Church, ' I must live a better life.' 

" A great change has taken place. Parental 
training has been surrendered to the Sabbath 
school, and the Sabbath school itself has un- 
dergone weakening modifications. 

" Is there reason to believe that the kind 
of training now given to youth of Protes- 
tantism will hold men and women in middle 
life thirty years from now as that given thirty 
years ago holds to-day those who received it ? 

"Let him that hath wisdom, or who think- 
eth he hath wisdom, exercise himself here- 
upon." * 



1 The Christian Advocate. 



"Deep in the warm vale the village is sleeping, 
Sleeping the firs on the bleak rock above ; 

Naught wakes, save grateful hearts silently creeping 
Up to the Lord in the might of their love." 
— Charles Kingsley, " Songs from the Saint's Tragedy." 

" Beautiful it was to sit there, as in my skyey tent, musing 
and meditating on the high table-land in front of the moun- 
tains, over me as roof the azure dome, and around me for 
walls four azure-flowing curtains, namely, of the four azure 
winds, on whose bottom fringes, also, I have seen gilding. And 
then to fancy the fair castles that stood sheltered in these moun- 
tain hollows with their green lawns and white dames and 
damsels lovely enough ; or, better still, the straw-roofed cot- 
tages where stood many a mother baking bread with her chil- 
dren around her, all hidden and protectingly folded up in the 
valley folds ; yet there, and alive, as sure as if I beheld them, 
. . . whereon, as on a culinary horologe, I might read the hour 
of the day. For it was the smoke of the cookery, as kind 
housewives at morning, midday, eventide, were boiling their 
husbands' kettles, and ever a blue pillar rose up into the air, 
successively or simultaneously, saying as plainly as smoke 
could say : Such and such a meal is getting ready here. Not 
uninteresting ! ... If I had learned to look into the business 
of the world in its details, here, perhaps, was the place for 
combining it into general propositions and deducing infer- 
ences therefrom." — Carlyle. 

"What an illuminated text-book is baby's face through all 
the earliest years ! How the lessons in it lay hold of intellect 
and heart, of imagination and memory ! A great school for 
mother is the nursery. The first four years of her baby's life 
have more power in them than the four years of a college 
course could have." — Bishop John H. Vincent. 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 89 



CHAPTER VI. 

" When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is 
lifting up." — Bible. 

"Is not the life more than meat, and the body than rai- 
ment ? " — Bible. 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 

b. Mothers. 
HE modern child has four teachers when 



T 



the legal school age is reached — the 
mother in the home, the pastor in the church, 
the teacher in the Sunday school, and the 
teacher in the week-day school. Of these the 
mother and the day school teacher have most 
time and influence with him, therefore the great- 
er need that the pastor and the Sunday school 
teacher, as acknowledged assistants in guiding 
religious thought, should be in harmony with 
the ideas and methods used by the trained 
teacher, who has the care of that child for five 
days' work, and should be helpful and in har- 
mony with the mother, who has seven days for 
the home training. Mothers say they have too 
much to do. Wait ! This is often only a matter 



90 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

of choice in what you do and how you consider 
the helps you have from Church and State. 
You have four children in four different 
schools, and those children also in four classes 
in Sunday school ; then each child has two 
teachers helping you to develop him, and you 
have eight trained allies besides your pastor. 
The life and the body will have good chance 
if you, with these teachers, are faithful to your 
trust ; but let some of the ruffles on the raiment 
be dispensed with, and give greater attention 
to the care of the teeth and bathing the little 
body, that the physical life may be developed 
under good conditions. Instead of standing 
by the hour to fry unwholesome " doughnuts," 
set some rice cooking in a double boiler and 
sit down to read a story or sing a song to the 
child. 

Not long since I knew a mother, frail and 
delicate in health, doing the work for her family, 
consisting of her husband, herself, and three 
children, and she always baked three kinds of 
muffins for breakfast to please the children. 
Each child preferred a special " cake." The 
mother is not living on earth now. 

Mothers often feel depressed because of ex- 
cess of physical labors, but sometimes they are 
self-imposed. Do not overtask yourselves, 
mothers ; you are queens, not slaves ; you are 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 91 

companions for your children ! Mrs. Browning 
said, " Some people always sigh in thanking 
God," and this is so too often with mothers 
who always stay in the house, and who, in their 
faithfulness to the physical wants of the chil- 
dren, forget the mental and spiritual upbuild- 
ing of themselves and of the children. 

If we could only emphasize the thought 
sufficiently that the teachers are friends of the 
mothers, and have the latter feel this to be 
true, how great would be the gain for the 
child ! Why, mothers, it is truly pathetic 
sometimes to see the pleasure which a teacher 
feels and expresses on receiving a call at the 
schoolroom from the mother of some child. 

Do not let shopping, housekeeping, or house- 
cleaning cares deprive you of these great joys 
of intellectual and spiritual companionship 
with your children. I groaned in spirit when 
a mother told me, not long since, of her mem- 
bership in eleven lodges and societies. Her 
children have a handsome shelter provided by 
a diligent father, pretty clothes and dainty 
food provided by the loving mother, who 
thinks she is doing God's service; but they 
do not know domestic joy, for they are with- 
out a home. 

Within two weeks I have been to some 
daintily neat, beautiful homes, while calling 



92 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

with my pastor, who is also my husband, 
upon some of our people who have been 
pinched during the last months by the relent- 
less ringers of Hard Times. Some of them live 
on the banks of the Erie Canal, some in nar- 
row and ill-looking streets, and two of them 
in tiny homes on a bit of land with the 
lightning Chicago trains and the Empire State 
Express trains darting past their front doors. 
The Mohawk River, now swollen by the spring 
rains, swashes the rear foundation of the homes, 
and seems to sing a lullaby for a patient little 
sufferer when all is quiet in the twilight, 
and the trains have, for a time, passed on. In 
the bit of land is a cherished garden, the 
peas with their oblong light green leaves look- 
ing glad after the refreshing rain, and leaning, 
in friendly fashion, toward the neighborly row 
of beans with their longer, darker leaves un- 
folding themselves and climbing upward. 

If the beans were aspiring, so were those 
who planted them and watched their growth, 
and helped them to climb by placing the sup- 
porting sticks beside them ; and I am glad that 
those inside the house and in the upper tene- 
ments are not left without support to steady 
them and to help them to climb, for active 
churches and good public schools aid the 
home efforts, and stimulate the trust and 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 93 

knowledge of those who are trying to " be 
somebody," for back of this crude expression 
is the laudable ambition and earnest spirit 
of effort and determination. A kindergarten 
bird's nest song says, " There's many a little 
home like this sheltered in every tree," and 
so I thought of these little humble homes; 
there are many, many of them in the towns 
and cities of our broad America ; little child 
gardens they are, and in them the little lov- 
ing children look trustfully up toward you, 
mothers, for the sunshine of your smiles, the 
refreshing rain of your tender words, and the 
supporting, steadying touch you best can give 
to them. The greater the number of these chil- 
dren clinging to you, the greater the number 
of helps the Church and State give to aid you 
in your care. They believe in educating your 
children, and, if you are poor, this is just as 
truly your right. Hear these true words 
spoken by a noble man who worked many 
years for God and humanity : " The highest 
culture, I repeat it, is in reach of the poor, and 
is sometimes attained by them. Without 
science they are often wiser than the phi- 
losopher. The astronomer disdains them, but 
they look above his stars. The geologist dis- 
dains them, but they look deeper than the 
earth's center ; they penetrate their own souls 



94 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

and find there mightier, diviner elements than 
upheaved continents attest. In other words, the 
great ideas of which I have spoken may be, and 
often are, unfolded more in the poor man than 
among the learned or renowned ; and, in this 
case, the poor man is the most cultivated." * 

It is in contact with God himself, and with 
an appreciation of your privilege and power of 
development, and of seeing the inner connection 
of things, the hidden, underlying principle pro- 
ducing an action or a thought, that you will 
find help. The writer just quoted says, " The 
great idea on which human cultivation especially 
depends is that of God," and most truly in him 
do you live and move and have your being. 
He guides your intuitions, and he comes very 
near to the mother-heart. 

One night, sitting in the twilight while the 
moon was rising, I had in my arms the little 
girl who was dearer to me than any other, and 
I told her very gently and simply of the death 
and burial of Jesus. Her eyes filled with tears, 
then her little body swayed as she sobbed, 
when suddenly looking upward, as she leaned 
toward the window, she exclaimed with rap- 
ture, smiling through her tears, " But now he's 
tip again ; isn't that nice ! " No confession of 
faith from a mature disciple of Christ, no 
* William Ellery Channing. 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 95 

announcement of the doctrine of the resurrec- 
tion from the lips of an aged saint, could have 
been more triumphant or more thrilling in its 
effect upon me. She had first learned that 
Jesus lives and that he loves ; therefore, he was 
to her forever ascended. 

Many times has the remembrance of this 
confession from her infant lips been an inspi- 
ration to me. I feel sure that in her maturity 
she will not doubt the truth she then uttered. 

It is the right and the sacred privilege of 
the mother to be the first to tell the children 
the story of the arrest and crucifixion of Christ. 
Tell them tenderly, simply, briefly, of how 
Jesus gave himself for the world that we all 
might always, forever afterward, have life. 
Tell them of his great love for us all, even for 
little children. Children are reasonable, and if 
they ask questions beyond what they should 
know, tell them that we are always learning 
more — we know more to-day than we did yes- 
terday, and they can readily understand that — 
tell them they will know more to-morrow, and 
that by and by they will learn more about this. 

In the church, the timid, retiring young 
mother, feeling, sometimes, her deficiencies be- 
cause of a lack of school advantages, or for 
other causes, may find certain helps and warm 
appreciative recognition from those who have 



g6 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

an interest in her and in her family. What 
way could be less obtrusive and more helpful 
than in the educative social contact which 
comes through the kindergarten of the church 
and the Mother's Educational Society? This 
might have a more permanent and practical 
result than the momentary grasp of the hand, 
and hastily spoken " come again " from some 
one in the church vestibule " appointed " to 
welcome strangers. 

A woman has been eloquent in the descrip- 
tion she gave me of her care in nurturing a 
large, wide-spreading elm, which is on one side 
of a city street. Its great branches give friendly 
shade to many other houses than the one in 
which lives its " founder," who has told me 
that when the tiny tree of forty-five years ago 
was just taking hold on life, she had real 
anxiety for its perfect development, and as it 
was very difficult to get water in abundance, 
she had to watch it carefully and constantly, 
giving it a little water at a time, and this often, 
but it now repays all her toil and efforts by its 
beauty and shade. 

One has said : " Life is sad, monotonous, 
earthly, without the arts. If a woman does not 
daily realize the higher life by knowledge of 
truth and love of beauty, what shall save her 
from the frivolity and ennui that gnaw away 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 97 

the heart, tarnish the soul, and bring misfor- 
tune to the fireside." We will go further, and 
say that in what people call the " lower walks " 
of life there may be, there are, artists. 
Money does not make an artist, though it 
will help develop one. We have seen humble, 
patient women with heaven-born aspirations 
and tastes, cramped by circumstances only, 
and mothers, sisters, teachers, maybe, in some 
degree, art educators to the little child-angels 
among them. 

The educative influence of a fine concert 
cannot be estimated, and upon the impressive 
mind of a child its effect is wonderful. If he 
may hear the oratorio of the " Creation," and 
carry away a remembrance of only the chorus, 
" And the Spirit of the Lord moved upon the 
face of the waters, and God said, Let there be 
light, and there was light!" its thrilling effect 
upon his mind and emotional nature will be 
lasting. It is more wonderful to hear the first 
phrase slowly and softly uttered with the 
gradual crescendo, until, when the words of the 
command are uttered, the organ, orchestra, 
and voices are so full of expression, that it is 
almost a reality that light bursts forth. 

Instead of taking the children to funerals, 
and either shocking their nerves or deadening 
their sensibilities, let them have opportuni- 
7 



98 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

ties of acquaintance with images of beauty 
and life. Take them to the art galleries. If 
they are quiet and obedient, it will not be an 
annoyance to you or to others to have them in 
public places occasionally and in the daytime. 
It goes without saying that their beds await the 
little active children when evening comes. Love 
them so much that you will put them to bed early. 

Every mother has many opportunities for 
study and observation. President Hall says : 
" We want, also, minute objective studies, such 
as any intelligent mother or teacher could make 
if they would focus their attention on one sub- 
ject, such as fear, shame, anger, pity, the phe- 
nomena of crying, unusual manifestations of 
will, traits made better or worse by school, 
and wise or unwise religious teachings." 

No reading can be more fascinating or in- 
structive to mothers and to the pastors of our 
churches than the book upon The Senses and 
the Will* where the author gives interesting 
facts concerning the early life of children, 
and records observations concerning the de- 
velopment of sight in his child for more 
than two years, beginning with the indications 
and movements five minutes after its birth. 



* Part I of The Mind of the Child, by W. Preyer, Pro- 
fessor of Physiology in the University of Jena. (Interna- 
tional Education Series.) 



THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY. 99 

Froebel recommended to one of his co- 
laborers the work on education called Levana, 
by Jean Paul Richter, telling his friend that 
it would be a suitable gift for him to make to 
his young wife, as the writer " distinguished 
four kinds of crying with children, and indi- 
cates suitable checks." 

When we have done all we can and learned 
all we are able, much will remain to be learned 
and to do, and we realize that time is all too 
short. The hours and the days slip rapidly 
away. How different is my view of time from 
that of my little daughter, who said a few 
days since, " Mamma, it will seem funny now 
to say I am eleven, for I've been ten so long ! " 
I recalled Wordsworth's words, 

" Sweet childish days that were as long as twenty days are 
now." 

Froebel said : " There is little hope for im- 
provement until the mothers will begin to 
educate their own selves. Let them attend 
kindergarten and study the system themselves 
. . . there will be no progress in one cause, 
nor, in fact, in any line, unless this condition 
is fulfilled ; for every progress depends on that 
of education, and no education, least of all 
that of infancy, can get along without the 
active cooperation of mothers, who ought to 
have a full comprehension of this true natural 



100 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

calling — the care of childhood. But they are 
not, as yet, acquainted even with the prelimi- 
naries of the education of man, which ignorance 
causes them to expect that due official educa- 
tors of youth should make good again what 
they, the mothers, have spoiled." 

Our Friend and Guide, ever near to aid, 
will teach us how to care for ourselves and for 
our children ; we can in trustfulness commit 
all to him — 

"And when we have done with our life-lasting toys, 
Dear Father, take care of our children — the boys ! " 



" God enters by a private door into every individual." — 
Emerson. 

" Let us then assist men to gain the consciousness of their 
own ability to act, and impart to them a conviction of the 
universal need of education." — Froebel. 

" If a man should be able to assent to this doctrine as he 
ought, that we are all sprung from God in an especial man- 
ner, and that God is the Father of both men and of gods, I 
suppose that he would never have any ignoble or mean 
thoughts about himself. But if Caesar should adopt you no 
one could endure your arrogance ; and if you know that you 
are the son of Zeus will you not be elated ? Yet we do not 
so ; but since these two things are mingled in the generation 
of man, body, in common with the animals, and reason and 
intelligence in common with the gods, many incline to this 
kinship, which is miserable and mortal, and some few to that 
which is divine and happy, that every man uses everything ac- 
cording to the opinion which he has about it, those, the few, 
who think that they are formed for fidelity and modesty and 
a sure use of appearances have no mean or ignoble thoughts 
about themselves ; but with the many it is quite the contrary. 
For they say, What am I ? A poor miserable man, with my 
wretched bit of flesh. Wretched, indeed ; but you possess 
something better than your bit of flesh. Why then do you 
neglect that which is better, and why do you attach yourself 
to this ? " — Epictetus. 



I. "You feel, then, without you, avast and grateful love 
for the good God ? " 

He. " Alas ! sir, not so much as I would nor as I ought. 
I have not knowledge enough to understand the perfection 
of this invisible Father and to bathe my spirit in the depths 
of his goodness. I see him exactly as might one of these 
rough, black stones which are warmed by the sun as long as 
he shines upon them. If I were like one of those mirrors 
that I have seen shining at the end of the rooms in your 
chateau I should be much more thoroughly warmed, that is 
to say, I should love him much more. Love must be great 
in proportion as mind is great. ... I cannot possess such 
power of admiration as a learned man." 

/. ' ' And how is that ? " 

He. " He created me." 

/. " But it cost him nothing." 

He. ' ' It cost him a thought — a thought of God, sir ! 
Have we ever thought enough of that ? As to me, I often 
reflect upon it, and I become as proud as a god in my hu- 
mility, as great as the world in my littleness : a thought of 
God ! But that is worth as much to me as if he had given 
me the whole universe. For, indeed, sir, though I am but a 
small thing, yet in order to create me it must be that he 
thought of me — of me who did not yet exist — that he saw me 
from afar, that he gave me life beforehand, that he reserved 
my little space for me, my little moment, my little weight, 
my little work, my birth, my death, and — I feel it, sir — my 
immortality ! What ! is that nothing, sir ? nothing to have 
filled one thought of God, and to have filled it so that he 
should have deigned to create you ? Ah ! I repeat it to you, 
when I think of this, nothing but this, sir, nothing but this, 
when I think of it, it builds up the love of God within me." 
— Lamartine. 



THE CHURCH AND THE INDIVIDUAL. 103 



CHAPTER VII. 

" Is it I ? "— Bible. 
THE CHURCH AND THE INDIVIDUAL. 

ALL reform must begin with the individual. 
The opportunity of the Church is to de- 
velop the individual, and to build character. 
The question " how to reach the masses " is one 
which has cried for solution, and has been re- 
peated and reechoed by the clergy and laity 
in pulpits and at conventions. It remains un- 
answered. It is proved that the best and most 
thorough work for the people cannot be done 
by crowding them together and shooting truth 
at long range into " the masses," and never 
knowing or seeing the unit. The Church has 
power to reach the masses through the individ- 
ual, and only in this way. We are born as individ- 
uals; we die as individuals; the Christian Church 
was planted by individual effort, and flourished 
under attention to personal responsibility. It 
is those who are most faithful to self-culture, 
who find time to encourage others, and to show 
them the privilege of developing the physical 



104 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

and spiritual sides of life. The Church should 
have a deeper, stronger, higher interest in the 
people who turn toward her with hungry hearts 
and longing eyes than to require simply that 
they put on their " best clothes " and sit 
through the morning service in the church edi- 
fice, where sometimes the minister in haste may 
have taken " a stone " instead of " bread " to 
distribute among his people, some of whom are 
intellectually hungry, while many are heartsore 
and brain weary. Nor can the Church say that 
she has done her full duty when she has pro- 
vided free seats and sent "a committee with 
blanks" to find out what " denominational pref- 
erence " one may have, and " how many children 
are in the family." The blank committee can- 
not do the work. That was good doctrine 
Samuel Johnson expressed when he said, " It 
is our business to consider what beings like us 
may perform, each laboring for his own hap- 
piness by promoting within his circle, however 
limited, the happiness of others." It is, how- 
ever, by faithfully " looking out for number 
one," as the homely phrase goes, that we appre- 
ciate the value of number two, and are able to 
help him to heed the same injunction. 

In a certain kindergarten guide book,* un- 

* Kindergarten Guide (illustrated), Marie Kraus-Boelte and 
John Kraus. 



THE CHURCH AND THE INDIVIDUAL. 105 

der the sixth occupation on " mat-weaving," you 
may find a strong and helpful suggestion which 
is expressed thus : " The number one is the be- 
ginning of all numbers, and each succeeding 
number is merely a doubling or a repetition. It 
is therefore necessary to let the child work for 
a long time with the number one, in order that 
he may comprehend it with head, eye, and 
hand. This number is not to be introduced 
intuitively, objectively ; but — and in this rests 
the significance of Froebel's idea — the child 
must represent it continuously and in the most 
varied manner. . . . All those exercises which 
seem intended to amuse and entertain the 
child have the one aim to lead him to an un- 
derstanding of the number one." 

Do you say that too much attention given 
to " number one " inculcates a selfish spirit ? 
Not if the process be guarded, guided, and ju- 
diciously carried on in the home life, the Church 
life, and the school life, for it will surely lead 
to the broader realm of thought and action, as 
in the case of this manual occupation of mat- 
weaving with strips of colored paper, which 
lays the foundation for designing, and teaches 
a lesson of generosity ; so that what began by 
trying persistently and faithfully to take care 
of " number one " led far away from selfishness. 

A teacher in the Church must not be afraid 



106 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

to cultivate her own individuality, and to give 
careful preparation to each portion of her work. 
She should study psychology, history of edu- 
cation, theory of education, history, and follow 
the masters of modern thought in their pub- 
lished declarations concerning great principles 
and appliances in the educational systems of 
the day. Her teaching should be parallel with 
the everyday teaching of the child, and, by read- 
ing the best English, she should have an ac- 
quaintance with the best and purest words in 
use, always avoiding high-sounding words, and 
believing in the eloquence of simplicity. Let 
your utterances be in the best chosen words 
and clearest terms of explanation. I remember 
my sufferings when I heard a woman, a 
mother, talking in a " children's meeting," cau- 
tion the little ones before her to " never use no 
cuss words," while in her own vocabulary she 
had given prominent importance to "ain't," 
and frequently said, " I done it." 

Study the Bible in its relation to the every- 
day world in which you live, and adapt its 
truths to the little dwellers in this world. Do 
not harness your expressions to those of some 
hard-working thinker in the denomination in 
which you are most interested. There is truth 
outside as well as inside your Church. How 
little we know of each other's Church after all ! 



THE CHURCH AND THE INDIVIDUAL. 107 

An illustration of this fact that we do not 
know each other came to me a few weeks ago, 
while I was talking with a mother-superior in a 
convent. I wanted to learn how truth was pre- 
sented to the young girls in her care, and how 
she directed her teachers in showing to them 
their opportunities and their work. After a 
long and profitable talk with her she said, " I 
should like the girls to sing for you before you 
go ; " and when I expressed my pleasure at her 
thoughtful courtesy, for it was past the hour for 
closing the session, she said, " I will have them 
sing their First Communion Hymn. Do you 
have the holy communion in your churches ? " 
And there we sat, so near to each other yet 
far apart, living in the same city, working for 
the same Lord and Master, consecrated to his 
service in serving others — the unselfish sister 
devoted to her individual work, her garb an- 
nouncing her separation from the world, and 
beside her the wife of a minister of the Gospel 
who felt, in a degree, the great privilege of dis- 
cipleship. The bright, slanting rays of the 
sun, just sinking in the horizon, came through 
the partly closed shutters at the windows, and 
the fair young girls, many of them with rapt- 
urous expressions upon their countenances, 
sung, " Dear Lord, I am not worthy that thou 
shouldst come to me ! " It was like a bene- 



108 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

diction at the end of a busy day, like a dream 
of peace coming to lull the weary spirit, as they 
sang one hymn after another. What if I did 
not sing with them in my heart the words of 
their " Hail, Mary ! " and what if in their hearts 
they pitied me and my mistakes, would you 
say that either one of those two women repre- 
sented a Church holding all the truth and 
no error? You would not; I dare not. This 
proves that individual character must be devel- 
oped and be free to think and to act. 

The Church must be alive to this work and 
do it. The welfare of the State also depends 
upon the perfection of the individual character. 
There are recognized standards of thought and 
action, of right and wrong ; but in this day of 
specialists there are impassioned utterances of 
mere opinions also. 

Teacher in the Church, know what you think 
and why you think it ; then help others to 
think. You have, perhaps, as many tempera- 
ments and dispositions as faces before you ; 
but become acquainted with each individual, 
know him, find the unit in this diversity, and 
serve and help the unit ; show him how to take 
care of number one, and he will then seek and 
help number two. 

One has forcefully and poetically put a truth 
thus: 



THE CHURCH AND THE INDIVIDUAL. 109 

" What a curious study the infinite variety 
of human character must be to the angels! 
All the zest and color and foliage of the moral 
universe depend upon individuality. Nature 
seeks it in material and form. Ripening leaves 
are less alike than green ones ; . . . the higher 
the product, the more individuality. So it is 
in civilization — Greek, Roman, Chinese. So 
art goes. There are circles within circles and 
lines which cross them all, and schools which 
are always breaking up into lesser groups. 
And all the surface freshness and variety de- 
pend upon the underlying and little-known 
distinctions in character. All comfort and se- 
curity, given the varieties, depend upon the 
moral unities below, but these are the some- 
times unnoticed harmonies which sustain and 
enrich the melodies which alone are heard and 
remembered. The general resemblances make 
up families, tribes, nations, and races, but 
within each circle how infinite the play 
of individuality ! . . . The law of individual 
development, as the law of life, is doing its 
work in the judging and test times of this 
world. The heroic spirit is incarnate in some 
individuals. The men that have been built 
alone can stand alone. . . . They are like 
Moses and Elijah, Luther and Savonarola ! " 
The same writer says : " There is nothing in the 



110 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

universe about which God cares so much, or 
by which he can be so adequately revealed, as 
individual character. . . . Everything in reli- 
gion is meant to emphasize the dignity and 
value of individual character."* 

The cultivation of individual characteristics 
and tastes is a sublime work, and if only a 
brief time be given you, teacher — one day in 
seven, and but a fragment of that day — yet 
you can every day watch for opportunities of 
seed-sowing, and in many ways, at many times 
of casual meeting, when upon the street, in the 
home, or on festive days, always remember 
and watch for the little ones, giving a hand- 
pressure, a smile, a word : all of use in the 
daily character-building that is steadily going 



* Sylvester F. Scovel, D.D., in Methodist Review, Feb- 
ruary, 1889. 



" Faith ought to and will remove mountains; that faith, we 
mean, which is shown by its works. The young Spartan who 
complained that his sword was too short was told to add to 
it — a step. That is what and all that is necessary." — Luther 
T. Townsend, D.D. 

"One prime object of a true educator, therefore, is to 
create wants. His next is to make the pupil satisfy those 
wants by his own efforts. He will watch the process. He 
will be careful not to interfere with it. But mark, he will 
interfere with it when difficulties are encountered that are too 
great for the struggling mind. . . . He will modify his meth- 
ods at every stage of the course of education so as to make 
them meet the needs of a growing intelligence." — Rev. F. H. 
Johnson in " Andover Review" 

" There is nothing more frightful than a teacher who knows 
only what his scholars are intended to know. He who means 
to teach others may indeed often suppress the best of what 
he knows ; but he must not be half instructed." — Goethe. 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 1 13 



CHAPTER VIII. 

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
these ... ye have done it unto me." — Bible. 

HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 

a. Kindergarten. 

INSTEAD of the primary department or 
infant school, we may have a kinder- 
garten, and a transition, or connecting, class. 
The kindergarten for children under seven, 
the transition class during seven and eight, 
then the intermediate till sixteen, and the 
senior school after that. What educative and 
social opportunities the home and the church 
of to-day offer to us ! The home-nest and 
nursery until three years, the kindergarten for 
three, four, five, six ; the transition class for 
seven and eight, with Junior League, En- 
deavor, Union, and Guild from nine to sixteen, 
and after that the senior school, league, so- 
ciety, and mature activity of later life — " one 
army of the living God." 

If a teacher wishes to introduce kinder- 
garten appliances or methods in the Sunday 
8 



1 14 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

teaching, begin by having all who are of the 
kindergarten age by themselves, at a kinder- 
garten table, in a well-ventilated room with 
their heavy garments and their hats removed. 
Try to avoid undue weariness to their little 
bodies, and do everything to make the children 
comfortable and happy. 

Teach them to love association with the 
church edifice, its ceremonies, its people, and 
the God and Father of all. 

Should anyone doubt the truth of the state- 
ment that the churches have not provided suit- 
able places for little children, just look over 
the churches where the room assigned for the 
"primary department " is found. It is usually 
ill-lighted and without means of ventilation, 
with seats built in raised rows, and has some- 
times stairways at the sides and center, where 
the children stumble and fall continually. 
If the room be large and in a " basement," it 
has also from one to three iron posts, called 
"supports." 

When the kindergarten of the Church is an 
accepted and established factor in the educa- 
tion of the children, the church architect will 
make a room light and attractive, with the 
best ventilation possible, level floor, with clear 
windows, broad sills for flowers, and plain, ar- 
tistically tinted walls. When he has done his 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 115 

work the room will be furnished with little 
chairs, one table for every ten or twelve chil- 
dren, a piano, a closet of kindergarten supplies, 
a sand table, perhaps a canary, and some gold- 
fishes. 

Some ask who is to do this work — it will 
take time and money, will it not ? Yes, it will 
take both. First, it has been proved that 
the Church does not do enough for her little 
children. You have never yet heard anyone 
say she is doing her full duty by them. 
Second, she ought to do the best she can, 
using the best methods devised she has a right 
to do it. Third, the best method for the in- 
struction and development of little children is 
the kindergarten. Fourth, she should use that 
method, and devise ways and means to make 
it possible. 

Let each church, or several churches in a 
town, prepare a room with all the best appli- 
ances, and engage the services of a trained 
kindergartner, who is competent to teach oth- 
ers to carry on the work alone in the future, 
after she has trained them, and let these as- 
sistants, as far as possible, be the teachers of 
the smallest children in Sunday school. Some 
mothers take a full kindergarten course, and 
often they find time to teach in the Sunday 
school. But observe, this is not a kindergarten 



Il6 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

of the Sunday school alone ; it is of the Church, 
and the different talents in the Church may be 
used. The young people's societies — Epworth 
League, Christian Endeavor, Young People's 
Union, the Guilds — all may furnish teachers ; 
also, in another class of workers, are the young 
women in our colleges, some of whom expect 
to teach, and may be employed by the churches, 
and those who do not may be able to consecrate 
their leisure to this cause. 

A young woman who had been graduated 
from college a year or two said to me : " When 
I left college to teach I had my ideas high, and 
have taught natural sciences for two years ; 
now I have them higher, and I want to be a 
kindergartner." 

The deaconesses who have consecrated 
themselves to the work of " teaching deacon- 
esses," as apart from missionaries or nurses, can 
take kindergarten training instead of nurses' 
training. 

As the work is educative, in the highest 
sense, it should have trained workers. This is 
necessary, that the system in its unity be not 
marred or mangled. Well-meaning but inju- 
dicious persons must not minify its importance 
because it is in the Church and for children. 
It is a work to be undertaken, as any thorough 
work should be, with prepared skill. 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 11/ 

The day is past when either minister or 
teacher in any department can successfully go 
forth to work with a picked-up, fragmentary 
preparation, trusting to luck and experience, 
guided only by untrained intuitions. 

The churches in the vicinity of New York, 
Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, Washington, 
and Boston have great advantages, as in those 
large centers are good kindergarten training 
schools. Here is one serious difficulty, how- 
ever: Many teachers, thoroughly trained in 
manual dexterity, have not the principles so 
to be competent to give Bible instruction. 
That is a feature apart from the regular work 
of the prescribed course of study. Some ear- 
nest Christians cannot teach, some good teach- 
ers have no wish to teach in the Church or any 
ability to bring a spiritual truth out of a his- 
torical fact. It is hoped that kindergartners 
may find suggestions of Bible study in the 
Work and Play chapter of this book. 

A teacher who is consecrated to the work 
of education, and is a disciple of Him who said, 
" Learn of me," will not be left in ignorance, 
for the Truth himself will supplement the wis- 
dom of the schools. It is hoped, also, that the 
chapters on Inspiration and Consecration will 
be helpful to such. Now, if you cannot have a 
trained teacher at a salary of fifty or sixty dol- 



Il8 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

lars per month for eight months — a school year 
— even where several churches together have a 
week-day kindergarten, perhaps you can for a 
few months each year. Allow for assistants to 
your director one teacher for every ten chil- 
dren, and the director will give lectures and 
instruction aside from the practice lessons of 
the morning sessions. 

But there are small churches in sparsely set- 
tled districts apart from the centers. In all 
such localities there are a few who have been 
where they had instruction and aid in direc- 
tions apart from this environment, and they 
know how to study, to teach, and to apply, 
and these persons will learn the method of a 
kindergartner. 

The kindergartens require of candidates, 
that they be over sixteen years of age, have a 
high school training or its equivalent, an ability 
to sing, and a love for children. This is the 
least required ; some schools expect more than 
this. If any person is determined to make a 
way to study kindergartening, as she would use 
every endeavor to fit herself to teach a district 
school, and would overcome obstacles to go 
to a normal school, so let her who is called to 
this work prepare for it ; for no church teacher 
should undertake her work without prepara- 
tion, any more than should a State teacher, or 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 1 19 

a physician, or a gardener. Let the orphanages 
and deaconess institutes and schools for mis- 
sionary training have trained kindergarten 
teachers, who will teach systematically 

God in Unity and Nature ; 
God in Trinity and Revelation. 

You have found, perhaps, dear fellow-teach- 
er, that your bit of time on Sunday is insuffi- 
cient for the work you have to do. It may be 
the room assigned for your department is in 
the most inconvenient place for it ; and you 
have to bear the torture of the confusion and 
noise just the other side of the doors, where 
the other departments are having the opening 
exercises. 

I know how hard it is for you to contend 
against this. Last Sunday I had to do it 
with eighty-three children on my side of the 
doors ; four hundred persons singing heartily 
on the other side. The only thing you can 
do at such a time is to make use of these mo- 
ments by allowing the children to talk to each 
other, and by giving them frequent periods 
of relaxation for their little bodies, which 
is absolutely necessary, and saying to them 
sometimes, "Now speak to each other for a little 
while ;" you will find it easier to have perfect 
quiet when you need it. Do not irritate your- 



120 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

self and the volatile children by constantly try- 
ing to keep order. Never use a bell, but teach 
the children to heed your voice when you ad- 
dress them in an ordinary tone, as " children " 
or " little people." Never call them " babies " 
or " little tots." Do not be persuaded, by 
people who know nothing of your duties, to 
open the doors between your room and the 
large room, for then you involve yourself in 
greater trouble and confusion. The boys and 
girls in the main school will be diverted from 
their work, for they will look in at the children, 
and while some of the latter are looking out at 
their brothers, sisters, and friends, others are 
hitting each other with their hats, and you all 
are losing precious time. When the doors are 
closed, you can have your secretary take the 
attendance, and mark it upon the blackboard 
— boys, girls ; total. You will find that each 
side is in earnest to keep up the attendance. 
Take the number of those who attended the 
morning service, and put it upon the board, and 
ask those who were at church to tell you some- 
thing they heard. Always mark this, too, upon 
the board as " church attendance," and com- 
mend the proportion, for you will find this sim- 
ple recognition will increase the attendance of 
small children at the church service. The best 
single record I ever had of this was one summer 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 121 

day when one hundred and five children were 
in the Sunday school class, and eighty-five of 
them had been in the morning service. 

It is more important that children go to 
church than to Sunday school ; the former is 
an institution of God, the latter of man. 

If you cannot have a kindergarten of the 
church on week days, put its principles as far 
as possible into your Sunday work, but the 
games, songs, and table work of weekdays you 
cannot have on Sunday. You will need the 
five mornings of kindergarten also to accom- 
plish what you should. 

We have always found blocks and calisthen- 
ics helpful in teaching the word of God, which 
is the true design of all Sunday school teach- 
ing. Remember, this child-garden should con- 
tain children between the ages of two and seven, 
and these little active bodies cannot sit still 
more than a few minutes to give attention to 
the most interesting exercise, and some teach- 
ers would allow them to follow their own sweet 
will and run about and talk, thus destroying 
law and order, and, becoming disobedient, 
making a free and easy, haphazard play room 
for them. We should vary the exercises so 
that nothing shall become wearisome, a lesson 
from the tower of Babel, Noah's ark, or nu- 
merous other subjects may be taught with 



122 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

blocks, the children thinking that they are 
playing with the blocks, and only this, when 
they are gaining historical information from 
God's word. Some simple calisthenic motions 
to ease the little arms and body, and relax the 
muscles, and a march led by some indifferent 
or would-be-disorderly boy, keeping step in 4-4 
time for three minutes, will relieve the little 
limbs, and cause the eyes to sparkle and the 
mind to work after being reseated, while we 
tell them how God's people of Israel marched, 
and how God's people are " marching on " now. 

The thought and query of expense comes at 
once, as we enumerate necessities ; but as well 
let the mechanic decide to work without tools, 
the artist without materials, the professional 
man without books, the merchant do business 
in his store without goods. Because this ob- 
jection has been urged and heeded, the infant 
schools are cramped and inefficient. 

Nothing can supply the place of object 
teaching, and we consider it one of the best 
means for fastening truth. 

Here is the outline of a simple lesson that 
we have found impressive. In a small flower- 
pot filled with earth a well-soaked bean was 
planted, and this carries three lessons : 

First. It teaches us that we may work with 
God (older people call it cooperation), for we 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 1 23 

plant and water the bean, and that is all we 
can do till God does his part, makes it shoot 
above the earth. Then we must water it. 

Second. It teaches us our dependence on 
the power of God, for no other power can 
make the bean come up. The strongest man 
could not do it. God's power must be put to 
that little bean. 

Third. It teaches us how very true that 
word of God is which says : " Whatsoever 
a man soweth, that shall he also reap ; " 
that very kind will come up. No daisy 
will come where we planted the bean, no 
orange tree, but a bean will surely come. 
Then elaborate and apply, showing how we 
plant or sow words and actions. Make some 
idea of influence apparent, and impress the 
pupils with the need of planting good words 
and thoughts, so that good results will be 
seen by and by. 

Goethe * says regarding the tragedy of Cal- 
vary, and the "exalted patience" of our 
Lord in his sufferings and death : " But we 
draw a veil over these sufferings, even because 
we reverence them so highly ; " and then he 
emphatically urges that we do not " bring 
forth that torturing cross, and the Holy One 
who suffered on it, or expose them to the light 

* Wilhelm Meister. 



124 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

of the sun which hid its face when a reckless 
world forced such a sight on it." 

We would never, in the first instruction of 
little children, relate to them the story of the 
death of our Saviour ; tell them first of his life, 
and of the love of Jesus for them and for all 
this world, dwelling in all your teaching upon 
love and the right, withholding any revelation 
of the wrong and the unbeautiful. 

No age can be named as the one when a 
child may first hear of the tragedy of the cross 
in its detail. Some children are more mature 
and have a better understanding at five or six 
years than others have at eight years ; but a 
wise and earnest teacher will know when and 
how to touch that greatest theme the world 
has ever had to consider. 

Never show repulsive pictures to children. 
Those portraying mortal combat and the cru- 
cifixion should never be used in the kinder- 
garten. 

Between the ages of seven and nine years, in 
the transition class, let the children be told in 
the best language and most reverent spirit 
that wonderful story of the physical death of 
Jesus, dwelling even then as much as possible 
upon the life side of the terrible tale. All 
references to tragedy should be persistently 
omitted at the kindergraten age. 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 1 25 

I have been told by some persons who 
attend the theater habitually, that they never 
allow themselves to see tragedy, or, if possible, 
hear any reference to it, and this because of an 
aesthetic temperament and vivid imagination 
being unduly wrought upon ; and I know of 
teachers of little children in public schools of 
Boston who will not see tragedy, fearing some 
unconscious shade of influence upon those 
whose minds are in their care. 

In expressing these ideas, I am well aware 
that they are opposed to views held and voiced 
by many whose opinions I respect. They have 
said to me, "O, you must tell them that Jesus 
died." I ask why must I, before they have 
learned that he lives, and before they know 
anything of that beautiful, wonderful life? 
Why need a tiny child be told certain historical 
narratives concerning Cain and Abel, Abraham 
and Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Jonah, John the 
Baptist, and Stephen? One church teacher 
said to me, " But the story of Jesus is differ- 
ent. " Yes, it is, and it is coming nearer to a 
child's heart and life, if not to his imagination ; 
and for that very reason he should first learn 
of the beauty, truth, and love of that life, and 
be led naturally and later to the painful and 
sad portions of the history. Another teacher 
said to me, " Do you not make a mistake in 



126 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

dwelling too much upon beauty and joy ? The 
child will be disappointed in later life on find- 
ing ugliness and sorrow." I think not. The 
child cannot have all truth, all facts of his- 
tory at once, and a part of the truth is beauty 
and joy. Yes, in this world where there are 
so many heavy-laden laborers seeking rest, 
there is more joy than sorrow, more sun- 
shine than cloud, more good than bad; and 
tell the children so. Let them start on their 
long journey with trustful, loving hearts, and 
they will not be " disappointed " to find that 
there are other conditions and facts also, 
any more than they will think they were 
deceived in childhood when other facts and 
conditions of physical life were not given to 
them, or to find that the town or city in 
which they lived was not all the world. They 
will be surprised to know of South Amer- 
ica, and of Africa, where the people are of 
a dark-colored skin ; and of a mountain across 
the sea which boiled over once and buried a 
beautiful city. The greater the intelligence 
inherited by a child the keener his imagina- 
tion, the quicker his mind, and the more real 
and shocking will such stories be to him ; if 
his environment be of culture and beauty, let 
him be trained naturally in it for the good of 
others, and do not rupture his trust. If his 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. \2J 

environment be of disquiet, turmoil, poverty, 
pain, squalor, how cruel to tell him that there 
is more of it all outside his little world ! No ; 
tell the children what they have a right to 
know, that the world is beautiful, given us to 
enjoy and to use for ourselves and for others, 
and that there are true and helpful people in 
it, doing something all the time for the naughty 
and sick ones ; " there's sin, there's want, 
there's sorrow, so we must shine " and hold up 
a light, be it ever so small ; but do not rend 
their trusting hearts by giving details of any 
sin, want, or sorrow; wait till they are old 
enough to bear it. 

An observance of the inner-connection of 
things, together with the promised wisdom, 
given without upbraiding for our lack of it, 
will guide and help in all these bewildering 
questions, and we will always find that 

" The love of God is broader 
Than the measure of man's mind, 

And the heart of the Eternal 
Is most wonderfully kind." 



" The laws of nature, we must remember, had their origin 
in the mind of God." — Charming. 

" If I can stop one heart from breaking, 

I shall not live in vain. 
If I can ease one life the aching 

Or cool one pain, 
Or help one fainting robin 

Unto his nest again, 

I shall not live in vain." — Emily Dickinson. 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 1 29 



CHAPTER IX. 

" First the blade, then the ear." — Bible. 

HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 

b. Transition Class. 

THE transition class is of importance, as 
being a step out of the kindergarten and 
a period of preparation for the intermediate 
school, the latter being preparatory to the 
senior department. 

An important theory held by Froebel was, 
that continuity is a necessary principle which 
should be followed. It seems possible to out- 
line only, and to suggest a plan for the tran- 
sition class, which may be made to illustrate 
the principle of Pestalozzi : " Proceed from 
the easy to the difficult ; from the simple to 
the compound ; from the near to the far ; from 
the known to the unknown." In Professor 
Courthope Bowen's book are lucid and practi- 
cal ideas on this department of instruction, 
and a work on this subject has been published.* 



* The Transition Class. M. F. & H., A. N. Heerwart, 
Myers & Co., London. 
9 



130 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

The boys and girls of this age — seven to 
nine — often ask profound questions, as we all 
know ; but if one is perplexed, do not be dis- 
couraged — search, read, and try to find an ex- 
planation, and when all else has been done — 
wait. I heard a mother say, " I try to find 
some answer or solution, but when I cannot, I 
say, ' Let us watch and wait.' " 

Sometimes when I have tried this, and have 
been obliged to admit that I could not find a 
reason, afterward, in a most unlooked-for time 
and place, I have discovered exactly what I 
wanted to know explained fully and clearly. 
One striking illustration of this was concerning 
the song of Yankee Doodle, which I learned 
when a child, and though I often wondered, 
and sometimes inquired, what a certain part of 
it might mean, I never could make any sense 
or connection of the words, 

"Yankee Doodle came to town, 

A-riding on a pony, 
He stuck a feather in his hat, 

And called him macaroni." 

Recently I found this explanation : * " Now, 
why he should have described himself as a 
nutritious article of diet popular in southern 

* English Composition. Eight lectures given at Lowell 
Institute, by Barrett Wendell. 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 131 

Europe I could never imagine until I hap- 
pened to notice Sir Benjamin Backbite's im- 
promptu verses in the ' School of Scandal/ a 
play produced just before the American Revo- 
lution : 

" ' Sure, never were seen two such beauitful ponies ; 
Other horses are clowns, but these macaronies. 
To give them this title I'm sure is not wrong, 
Their legs are so slim, and their tails are so long.' 

" Apparently the macaroni was a dandy in 
tights and very long coat tails. The embat- 
tled farmers, with feathers in their hats, were 
derisively likened to them, just as a country 
fellow on a cart horse is sometimes hailed to- 
day as a ' dude on horseback.' " 

If the work of teaching reverence, courtesy, 
consideration for others, and faith, is well done 
in the kindergarten, it will be easy to continue 
it in the transition class. 

The word " faith " seems mystifying to 
many of us, and " the substance of things hoped 
for, the evidence of things not seen " never 
seemed quite plain enough to me. Perhaps 
my conception of " substance " and " evi- 
dence " was too material, and so the rendering 
of the Revised Version made it a little clearer, 
" the assurance of things hoped for, the prov- 
ing of things not seen ; " but clearest of any 
idea was one I heard only a few weeks since. 



132 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

Rev. Dr. J. L. Hurlbut told me that once when 
going up the Hudson in company with the 
Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott, the latter said that the 
best definition of faith which he had discovered 
was "spiritual insight" upon the theory that 
faith is to the spirit what our natural eyes are to 
the body ; the eyes of the " soul, spiritual eye- 
sight." And then he said to me, " Think about 
that, and read the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, 
substituting ' spiritual insight ' for ' faith ' 
each time." I did so, and it has a clearer inter- 
pretation to me than it ever had. " By spiritual 
insight Moses, when he was grown up, refused 
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." 

It is as helpful and clear as the reading of 
i Cor. xiii, substituting " love " for " charity." 

In the transition class the child may be 
taught of the fact and significance of death 
by careful, tender attention to his individual 
temperament, and aside from the Sunday les- 
sons, as he is now in the day school and beyond 
kindergarten, let the junior society of the 
church, in the week-day service which is held, 
give him beautiful ideas in the stories and lan- 
guage of many great writers. Wordsworth's 
"Pet Lamb" and " To a Butterfly;" Long- 
fellow's 

" Come to me, O ye children, 
For I hear you at your play," 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 1 33 

parts of " Hiawatha," and " Rain in Sum- 
mer." These will foster love for animals and 
sympathy with nature, while Eugene Field's 
" Little Boy Blue" and "The Lyttel Boy," 
also Helen Hunt Jackson's " The Prince is 
Dead," will carry lessons in sympathy and 
human equality. 

The necessity of having noble sentiments 
and worshipful emotions taught in song can- 
not be too strongly emphasized. A book 
upon the subject should be written by a 
master musician with Christian courage — one 
who has conscientious adherence to principles 
of truth, as given in both literature and com- 
mon sense. Some of the meaningless, bar- 
baric, empty, so-called " hymns " would then fall 
into disuse, and in their places we would have 
such hymns as should be taught to children ; 
for if the words, " The hymns drilled into 
memory in youth remain as a spiritual and 
sentimental solace to the end of time,"* be 
true, we cannot be too careful. 

If a Sunday school superintendent or direct- 
or of music wishes to give expression to an 
emotion by singing " Hallelujah, 'tis done ! " 
or " Revive us again," let him rather min- 
ister both to the intellectual and emotional, 

* Countess Krockow, in article on " Education in Ger- 
many," Century Magazine, June, 1891. 



134 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

and substitute " Praise, my soul, the King of 
Heaven," * " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Al- 
mighty." Let trustfulness find expression in 
" Holy Spirit, faithful Guide," " God is love, 
his mercy brightens," " Dear Lord and Mas- 
ter mine," and 

" Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us, 
O'er the world's tempestuous sea." 

When the lesson for the day is " Building upon 
the rock," promote the unity of the session by 
singing " Christ is made the sure foundation." f 

One who has stated that explanation of 
words and a study of elocution appeals to a 
boy's mind in a taste for poetry and eloquence 
says, " This taste is really very universal." 

The memory-method has its place in the 
education of children. Froebel has useful in- 
struction for mothers in the plan of memory 
association, and no thoughtful and thorough 
educator would eliminate this important factor 
from his system. A note by the editor of 
Froebel s Letters says: " In order to bring about 
a change, both the public school and the kin- 
dergarten must modify their methods. Ob- 
ject lessons and manual activities must enter 
into every branch of the instruction given in 



* Words by Henry F. Lyte, tune by Henry Smart. 
f From the Latin, translated by J. M. Neale. 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 135 

the public school, and the kindergarten must 
begin to pay considerable attention to the de- 
velopment of the memory. If these things 
are done, it will be easier to assign to the kin- 
dergarten a place in the public school system/' 

Children should be required to commit to 
memory passages of Scripture, and the thought 
underlying the words must be explained 
clearly to the mind. We do not favor the 
learning of " a chapter at a time," as some 
people boast they did in childhood, for we 
think if those people had thoroughly commit- 
ted and understood one or two verses each 
Sabbath the fifty-two or one hundred and four 
would have been valuable and correct at the end 
of the year. Perhaps it is because people re- 
cited the Bible in sections that we hear the 
Scriptures misquoted and sometimes bandied 
in jest. 

If sometimes, however, the words seem be- 
yond the capability of the child's mind, as a 
teacher has recently put it, "he will quickly 
grow up to the words" and, like lofty ideals, 
they may be incentives to his thoughts. Know- 
ing the emphasis put upon memory methods 
in parochial schools, I once talked with a 
Roman Catholic priest on this subject, when he 
said to me that as a child he often wondered 
what Pontius Pilate might be. A bishop of 



136 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

his Church had occasion a short time since to 
explain the same words to a boy who had sup- 
posed that " suffered under Pontius Pilate " 
referred to the name of a disease ; he im- 
mediately made it clear to the lad that this 
was but the name of a governor ruling in the 
time of Christ, as Governor Flower is now 
(1894) the chief ruler of this State. 

Guide the imagination and supernatural 
tendencies, and while developing the individ- 
ual aptitudes and encouraging investigation 
and questioning, let there also be cultivated in 
both teacher and pupils a habit of trusting. 

We consider the system of rewards and 
prizes unfair. A prescribed lesson may be 
very simple, perhaps, for the apt child, while 
the dull one will find it difficult ; and though 
the latter try ever so conscientiously to do 
his work and fall short of success, he must not 
be allowed to become discouraged. 

The offering of prizes will not encourage the 
weak. " We, then, who are strong, ought to 
bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to 
please ourselves." The parable of the laborers 
in the vineyard tells us that every man re- 
ceived a penny ; and we know a// who are faith- 
ful unto death will receive a crown of life, not 
the most faithful. If any pleasure or reward 
is to be given let it be given to all, for all will try. 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 1 37 

The Sunday school teacher is an oracle to 
the children. They see their ignorance and, 
unlike older people, acknowledge it, being 
eager for knowledge in every form. 

The Church, next to the home, should be 
the most attractive place on earth to the chil- 
dren. They should be nurtured in the Church 
for God and the Church. It is a common 
error that children may be partially instructed, 
and after sin has been committed let them be 
converted and join the Churcho Our Bible 
says that they are of the kingdom of God, and 
we understand it to mean now, as well as after 
they leave earth. 

The children may be taught to chant the 
Lord's Prayer, having first learned in the 
kindergarten to repeat it. They know this is 
the prayer which Jesus gave to us. 

They should learn the Apostles' Creed and 
a portion of the Catechism before entering the 
larger school, and also the Ten Command- 
ments, after having learned the New Com- 
mandment and the Golden Rule, both given 
to us by Jesus. 

First. Kindergarten, pure and simple, for 
children three, four, five, and six years of age, 
Sundays, and five mornings, weekly : 

The Lord's Prayer, 

New Commandment, 



138 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

Golden Rule, 

Beatitudes, 

Psalm xxiii, 

Daily Bible Lesson, 

Work and Play, 

Music (children at home evenings). 

Second. Transition Class, children seven and 
eight years : 

Chant Lord's Prayer, 

Ten Commandments, 

Apostles' Creed, 

Catechism (portion of), 

1 Corinthians, thirteenth chapter, 

Sewing cards, 

Observation and impression lessons (writ- 
ten), 

Sunday Bible Lesson and Music, 

Week days, meeting of Junior Church Soci- 
eties, 

Stories of Nature, 

History, 

Poetry, 

Art, with occasional drawing exercises. 
Children in school during the week, at home 
evenings. 

The teacher of the transition class will find 
drawing an aid in explaining a condition as 
well as an object. While teaching a lesson on 
" A Storm at Sea," the children intuitively fol- 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE. 1 39 

lowed our unconscious motion descriptive of 
the waves ; and after making the motion with 
the hands we put a mark illustrative of waves 
upon the board somewhat like this : 



and after Jesus said, " Peace, be still ! " there 
was "a great calm " — 

" What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." 



PART II.— PRACTICE. 



INSPIRATION. 143 



CHAPTER I. 

" He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall 
have the light of life." — Bible. 

INSPIRATION. 

THE most successful teacher of children is 
the one who believes in inspiration, for 
this results in a spontaneous action, which Mr. 
Emerson said " is always our best." The 
teacher of children should have such firm be- 
lief in this divine breath as to regard it sacred, 
almost to the degree Fra Angelico did, of whom 
it is said, that after having put his brush upon 
the canvas he would never erase its mark, for 
he believed that the Holy Spirit guided his 
hand. Perhaps he thought it better to begin 
again, trusting the same source of wisdom for 
a new achievement ; and this is better for us, 
too, than to patch our work. 

Sometime ago I was greatly impressed in 
reading the Preface to a strong little book, en- 
titled The True Order of Studies, written by 
the Rev. Thomas Hill, D.D., formerly presi- 
dent of Harvard University. It began thus : 



144 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

" The hierarchy of science adopted as the basis 
of this work was first perceived by me one 
night about the first of February, 1843, while 
attempting to answer a chance question ; " and 
then it was shown how that which was given to 
his mind so clearly at that time was the basis of 
numerous addresses, lectures, magazine articles, 
communications for the Journal of Education, 
and at last for this book, dated thirty-two 
years later. 

Earnest worker in this child-garden, keep 
your heart open toward the children, your 
eyes bright and sharp to see the latest flower 
blossoming upon the tree of truth, and be sure 
to discern its form and to appreciate its beauty 
and fragrance ; have your mind ready for 
promptings from Him who will " bring all 
things to your remembrance " and " show you 
things to come." One has said in words that are 
prophetic : " I believe the time is coming when 
Christian benevolence will delight in spreading 
all truth and refinement through all ranks of 
society. But meanwhile be not discouraged. 
One ray of moral and religious truth is worth 
all the wisdom of the schools. One lesson 
from Christ will carry you higher than years 
of study under those who are too enlightened 
to follow this celestial guide."* 

* William Ellery Charming, in 1835. 



INSPIRATION. I45 

Go bravely forward in your work, with an 
abandonment to Him of your whole physical 
and spiritual being. When he shall give to you 
— in an unlooked-for-manner, and perhaps in an 
instant of time, when least expected — a germ 
of truth, of life, see that the soil of your heart 
and mind be as the " good ground " to receive 
it; do not allow either fowls, sun-scorch, or 
thorns to deprive you of it, but guard it, water 
it, and give it a chance, it will bring forth fruit, 
and its seeds, increased a hundredfold, you 
may use for others. Take a seed and plant it 
safe ; " it will grow while thou art sleeping." 

So thoroughly do I believe in the inspiration 
of the Holy Spirit, the life-giving touch of the 
divine Saviour, that I wish pen, voice, brush, 
and instruments of music would assist me to 
make clear to others the proof of its blessing 
and aid. In your study of poetry and art look 
for instances of it, and you will see that they 
abound ; not always recognized by those who 
receive great inspiration, but every good gift 
comes from the Father of light, given to the 
diligent, patient seeker for a plan of thought 
or wisdom for an emergency ; and a persistent 
student never searches in vain. 

Do not hesitate either to say, " I do not 
know," " I never heard of it," for never can 
any good come of pretense or assuming to 
10 



146 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

know what you do not know. " Pretension 
never feigned an act of real greatness. Pre- 
tension may sit still, but cannot act. Pretension 
never wrote an Iliad nor drove back a Xerxes, 
nor Christianized the world." * Another grand 
exhortation is, " Be true, be true, be true ! " f 

Read, study, reflect, search everywhere for the 
truth and for light upon your work ; perceive, 
memorize, do all you can in preparation. 

A greater power or capacity of the mind 
than either the memory or the perception 
method is one combining both, to which has 
been given the modern technical term "ap- 
perception." " This is the power of under- 
standing and applying what has been per- 
ceived or learned. It is the process of mental 
digestion and assimilation. ..." "It is what we 
inwardly digest, of what we memorize or per- 
ceive that nourishes our minds, just as it is liter- 
ally true that it is not what we eat but what 
we digest that truly nourishes the body." % 

Now let the teacher of little children call to 
her aid all her faculties — reproduction, apper- 
ception, and all that a well-balanced, well-in- 
formed, and well-trained mind can command, 
being prayerfully attentive to all. With this 

* Emerson. f Hawthorne. 

% Read article by Professor W. T. Harris, in the Educational 
Review for May, 1893. 



INSPIRATION. 147 

equipment her unlimited power will accom- 
plish unbounded and measureless results. 
Have your spiritual " ears to hear" well at- 
tuned for the " heavenly Voice," and you will 
no more mistake it than did he who said, 
" Among the tumult of a thousand worlds I 
should hear the faintest whisper of His 
voice." * Have your spiritual eyes to see 
clear and strong. 

" Look steadily, once." f You will see the 
Way, the Truth, and the Life. Follow brave- 
ly and faithfully onward, and at last be able to 
say, " I was not disobedient unto the heavenly 
vision." 



* John Inglesant, by J. H. Shorthouse. 
f Bishop Vincent. 



" But you shall teach the smallest children and visit the 
poorest people and perform the duties of the household all 
for Christ." — John H. Shorthouse. 

" Aspire ! break bounds ! I say endeavor to be good ; and, 
better still, and best, success is naught, endeavor's all." — 
Robert Browning. 

" What thou hast given to me, Lord, here I bring thee — 

Odor and light and the magic of gold ; 
Feet which must follow thee, lips which must sing thee, 

Limbs which must ache for thee ere they grow old." 

— Charles Kings ley. 

"Ono! I am never weary. Can one feel weary in the soci- 
ety of Him who knows everything, who says everything, who 
hears all that we have to say to him, and who is never tired 
of hearing us and answering us in our hearts ? " — Lamartine. 



CONSECRATION. 1 49 



CHAPTER II. 

' Here am I, send me." — Bible. 
CONSECRATION. 



IN what we are and what we may attain 
unto, when given to God and to his service, 
there are possibilities beyond our measurement. 
A consecration, or setting apart of ourselves for 
the good of others, is the highest and broadest 
act which we can perform, and in doing this 
truly, broadly, and sincerely we are obedient 
to the " heavenly call." There comes in the 
development of the innermost sacred parts of 
our life a time which we may call the demand 
of the spiritual, and its positive assertion over 
the material. Up to this point the natural, and 
so far the free and conscientious, service has 
been given in accord with the light and help 
we have had. But questions and conditions 
arise. We know more than we did when we 
first consecrated ourselves, and with zest and 
speed the spirit has winged its way in the path 
of progress and even the material conditions of 
our life are changed. St. Paul and Goethe, 



150 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

historians, poets, novelists, persons good and 
evil, all recognize this to be a fact, but they call 
the condition by different names, and explain 
its phenomena by different terms of reasoning. 
The Fathers of the Church talked freely of it, 
but the reticence of modern life and the mys- 
tifying terms of creeds and dogmas too often 
blind our spiritual eyes and cause us to see 
vaguely what should be clear and simple and 
true. We all know what this is — the " moment 
to decide ;" and contending forces within us talk 
in voices almost audible while we wait, and lis- 
ten, and — choose ! 

One day last year when away from home, 
and going alone to a church service, I heard a 
true and earnest utterance like this : " The 
world needs to-day, more than anything else, a 
personal and simple confession of the beauty 
and help which Jesus can give to one's life. If 
you have learned of him tell somebody else what 
he has taught you, and how he spoke to you." 
Within the last few weeks I have heard 
persons who have asked whether this or 
that be true, repeating the same old question, 
" To whom shall we go?" Some of them 
incline to Theosophy, some to so-called 
" Christian Science," and others to equally un- 
satisfactory and bewildering "systems" which 
cramp the life. It is painful to follow in our 



CONSECRATION. 151 

thought a leader in one of these movements, 
Mrs. Besant, as she retraces her steps through 
the paths of doubt and mental pain, and at 
last, after having given up prayer, she says : 
" God fades gradually out of the daily life of 
those who never pray ; a God who is not a prov- 
idence is a superfluity ; when from heaven does 
not smile a listening Father it soon becomes an 
empty space whence resounds no echo of man's 
cry." How different this condition from that of 
one of Goethe's characters, who said : " I came 
to God who did not drive me back. . . . On my 
smallest movement toward him he left a soft 
impression on my soul." . . . "The straight 
direction of my heart was to God and the fel- 
lowship of the beloved ones* I sought and 
found: and this was what made all things 
light to me. As a traveler in the dark my 
soul, when all was pressing on me from without, 
hastened to the place of refuge and never did 
it return empty. . . . When in straits and op- 
pression I called on God." 

The one to whom is intrusted the teaching 
of the children, whether the mother in the 
home, the teacher in the church or in the school 
— she should go patiently, trustfully, and prayer- 
fully to her work, not depending wholly on out- 
ward conditions for success. In unfolding and 

* In the original. 



152 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

developing the child from within, and in ob- 
servance of the inner-connection of things as 
revealed in the outward expression of tongue 
and hand, develop, unfold your own life from 
within, relying wholly first and last and always 
upon the great Teacher himself, the power of 
the Infinite, to aid you ! The uplifting strength 
you gain in companionship with him will hold 
you above any petty discouragements of life. 

At one time, when a friend and co-worker of 
Froebel wrote him of a young man who was at 
the time a teacher in a school in Germany — 
a life position in the service of the State — but 
who had decided to give it up for kindergarten 
work, the good Froebel replied : " He will 
never repent of his resolve. I have never yet 
found anybody who repented of the resolve to 
devote himself or herself to this method of 
educating children according to the laws of 
life and development ; whoever will do so de- 
liberately, and with a devoted soul, will realize 
and gain double or many times his stake by 
receiving his own self back as a perfect whole." 
A teacher of little children, either in the home 
or in the Church, should show to them the 
beauty and the loveliness of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and should teach them to love him and 
to trust him. In a natural and simple manner 
lead them to personal loyalty to their per- 



CONSECRATION. 1 53 

sonal Friend. They will understand even 
more clearly than you do that he is their 
dearest Friend, though unseen, for they know 
that they can love their parents and friends 
when they do not see them, like a little 
child whose friend said to her, " I am going 
into the country to-morrow, and I shall see 
your mother ; shall I give her your love?" 
The little one replied, " Why ! she has my love 
now ! " You can teach them, also, that the 
chief minister to our physical strength and 
life, the air, is something we never see, but it is 
here, and you can make real to the child mind 
also what you believe, that " the things which 
are seen are temporal, but the things which 
are not seen are eternal." 

A book recently published * refers to " The 
New Element in Theology," and in its opening 
sentences there is a silent eloquence and 
thrilling quickening in the forceful and eleva- 
ting thoughts expressed, and reading them is 
like meeting a friend and being suddenly and 
delightfully surprised. They are these : " The 
most distinctive and determinative element in 
modern theology is what we may term a new 
feeling for Christ ; we feel him more in theol- 
ogy, because we know him better in history. 

* The Place of Christ in Modern Theology, by A. M. Fair- 
bairn. 



154 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

His historical reality and significance have 
broken upon us with something of the surprise 
of a discovery, and he has, as it were, become 
to us a new and more actual being. It is cer- 
tainly not too much to say that he is more 
studied and better known as he was, and as he 
lived, than at any period between now and the 
first age of the Church." 

Give time, thought, and prayer to your work, 
whatever it may be. Let your prayer be more 
than petition ; let it be praise, adoration, wor- 
ship ! One reason of the uncertainty and 
searching of those who follow some theory or 
philosophy or " ism " to-day is, that the inti- 
mate loving devotion between their inner life 
and the divine Person has languished. Some- 
times the consecration has not been made 
when the alternative came. It may be that you 
have turned away from the important question, 
and you may have felt as did the character in 
John Inglesant, " I believe all that you say and all 
that you promise, and that the heavenly way lies 
before me in the road that you have pointed 
out ; but I cannot follow it ; it is too straight 
for me." O, no ! Go in the way pointed out 
to you, and in loving trustfulness nestle close 
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Walk with him in 
all the ways, and as the years multiply you will 
grow in wisdom and come closer to his heart, 



CONSECRATION. 155 

and to nature. In living near to nature we are 
near to God. A beautiful instance of this 
came to me not long ago. A young man do- 
ing good work in college had a talk with his 
pastor concerning his inner life, described his 
thoughts, and told of his consecration, and of 
his wish to confess Jesus Christ publicly by 
giving his hand to the Church. The pastor 
said, " Has anything else ever stirred you in 
a way similar to this ? " After a pause he re- 
plied, " Only the woods, sir," He greatly en- 
joyed camp life, even in winter, and through 
nature he learned to love God and then came 
to a loving, loyal service for Jesus Christ. 
Another learned trustfulness and peace of 
Christ after reading the Still Hour* and taking 
God's word as a lamp to his feet and a light 
to his path. 

You must take time to prepare for your 
work ; and here is where a temptation may come 
to you to defraud yourself of the time for prep- 
aration, A young woman not long since said 
to me that she wanted to enter college, and 
was all ready but in one thing — she must do 
work in Greek a whole year before she could 
meet the requirements. When I urged her to 
do so and to take her college course, she said, 
" But I am almost eighteen now ; and think of 

* Austin Phelps. 



156 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

the time." She did think of it, and decided 
in the better way, and now, well on her college 
course, she is thankful beyond expression that 
she decided as she did. 

Yes, it is worth while to consecrate time to 
the preparation for your work, and it is worth 
while to consecrate thought to it, but, at all 
sacrifice, commune with God ! Nothing can 
supply the place of worship to you, no other 
advantage can compare with this. Your inmost 
soul must continually lean on God, for most 
truly you live and move and have your being, 
both physical and spiritual, in him ! Allow 
him to be your dearest, closest, personal com- 
panion. Here are words breathing the spirit 
of consecration : 

" There comes a strange 
And secret whisper to my spirit, like 
A dream of night, that tells me I am on 
Enchanted ground. Why live I here ? The vows 
Of God are on me, and I may not stop 
To play with shadows, or pluck earthly flowers, 
Till I my work have done, and rendered up 
Account. The voice of my departed Lord, 
* Go teach all nations,' from the Eastern world, 
Comes on the night air, and awakes my ear. 

" And I will go. I may no longer doubt 
To give up all my friends and idol hopes. 
.... Why should I regard 
Earth's little store of borrowed sweets ? 



CONSECRATION. 1 5? 

" Henceforth then — 
It matters not if storm or sunshine be 
My earthly lot, bitter or sweet my cup — 
I only pray, ' God fit me for the work ; 
God make me holy, and my spirit nerve 
For the stern hour of strife.' Let me but know 
There is an arm unseen that holds me up, 
An eye that kindly watches all my path, 
Till I my weary pilgrimage have done — 
Let me but know I have a friend that waits 
To welcome me to glory — and I joy 
To tread the dark and death-fraught wilderness. 
And when I come to stretch me for the last, 
.... it will be sweet 

That I have toiled for other worlds than this. 
I know I shall feel happier than to die 
On softer bed. And if I should reach heaven — 
If one that has so deeply, darkly sinned — 
If one whom ruin and revolt have held 
With such a fearful grasp — if one for whom 
Satan hath struggled as he hath for me, 
Should reach that blessed shore — O then 
This heart will glow with gratitude and love ; 
And through the ages of eternal years, 
Thus saved, my spirit never shall repent 
That toil and suffering once were mine below." * 



* Blackwood's Magazine, and quoted in Sword and Gar- 
ment, Dr. Townsend. 



" When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a 
child, I thought as a child." — Bible. 

" Any educational work founded upon play as the means 
of developing childhood is work in the spirit of Schiller." — 
Froebel. 



WORK AND PLAY. 1 59 



CHAPTER III. 

1 ' And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls 
playing in the streets thereof." — Bible. 

WORK AND PLAY. 

IN this chapter the details of work which 
we did during the months of the session 
of our kindergarten cannot be given, but an 
outline will be indicated. This is, in the main, 
to illustrate the particular feature claimed for 
the kindergarten of the Church — that of Bible 
work, which may be at once so natural and 
spiritual that the connection between nature 
'and religion will be completely and forever 
associated in the child's mind. Though it is 
some timesdifficult to adapt a lesson to the text 
without marring its dignity and beauty, yet it 
may be done so that the truth will appear as real 
and natural as the facts of science, and be as at- 
tractive as the nature stories. Believing, as the 
late Dr. Latimer so beautifully and forcefully 
announced, " There is a science of the invisible, 
as well as of the visible, just as reliable and in 
its way equally thorough," we know that it 
is possible to cultivate in the child-mind that 



l6o THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

which God has already implanted, love for the 
beautiful, trust in the truth, and a natural 
turning toward the tender Shepherd. The 
uppermost thought of each day is personal, 
warm friendship for the Lord Jesus Christ, the 
Saviour of the world, a desire for companion- 
ship with him, and a spirit of obedience to his 
teachings. The promotion of family life also is 
emphasized. Not only in the love and help 
thoughts, but in many ways it is shown that 
the inner-connection between the Christ life 
within, and the daily acts without, is close, 
strong, and complete. 

The weeks here selected for reference are 
representative of the whole. All were delight- 
ful. All were fertile for thought and nature 
work, but the months usually considered bar- 
ren and the cold winter days are the ones ex- 
emplified in this chapter. If you find them 
attractive, you will see at once that the spring, 
summer, and autumn are more fertile for 
thought and nature work. 

Any who undertake to do this will have abun- 
dant resources. As we hope the churches will 
secure trained kindergartners, they will be al- 
ready equipped for the gift-work, games, and 
the science of the kindergarten, so our special 
aim here is to indicate a system furnishing a 
basis for Bible work in the circle. This may 



WORK AND PLAY. l6l 

be enlarged or improved by the inventive 
ingenuity and constructive imagination of the 
teacher, who will find " the ever-present Wis- 
dom ready to assist her." 

All dissyllables and unusual words were sim- 
plified and explained to the children ; for ex- 
ample, in one of their first and favorite songs — 
" O, the star " — they had explained most clearly 
to their thoughts, " Illumes my way," " Rains 
its beauty from afar," " Glowing light ; " and in 
the " Crusader's Hymn ;" they can tell also the 
meaning of "The blooming garb of spring," 
and other unusual expressions. After singing 
the latter hymn, almost invariably some child 
asks if we may now sing " Twinkle, little star," 
this suggested, doubtless, by the last line of 
the hymn. 

After explaining to the children the differ- 
ence between a song and a hymn, and teaching 
them an Easter hymn with the " Amen," they 
never considered any hymn finished without 
the " Amen." This was their own idea. They 
never make a mistake and sing Amen on the 
songs, not even on their favorite finger, sun- 
shine, or fairy songs. 

The sessions occurred every morning except 

Saturday, for eighteen weeks, from nine to 

eleven o'clock. The Bible lesson was given 

each day, making six Bible lessons weekly, 

11 



l62 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

this including Sunday. If this outline suggests 
too much work, remember that we were to- 
gether ten hours during five week days, and 
every moment was delightfully occupied either 
in work or play. After the first two weeks we 
had four teachers always, and usually in addi- 
tion to this three or four voluntary assistants. 

The first session of the kindergarten of the 
church occurred Monday, January 8, in the 
apse-room of the church, with its three large 
windows, east, south, and west. The circle 
cloth had been laid, and the tiny chairs sur- 
rounding it awaited the children. At each 
side of the room was a kindergarten table with 
twelve chairs ; beside one of the tables the 
blackboard, and beside the other an easel with 
a large picture of " Maternity," a mother walk- 
ing through a field with her baby in her arms, 
and beside her walking a cow and calf. This 
has a carved frame of acorn and oak leaves, in 
oak wood, and, being large, attracted the at- 
tention of the children. It was loaned by my 
little daughter, Constance, who had taken it 
from her own room, and who, that morning, 
wished herself five instead of ten years old 
that she might be in the kindergarten. 

At nine o'clock the director, two teachers, 
Sister Maggie and Sister Gretchen, from the 
Deaconess Institute, and twenty children were 



WORK AND PLAY. 163 

in the circle. The clergy of the city were rep- 
resented by three of their number. The trus- 
tees of the church and the Sunday school were 
represented also, and a mother who had en- 
tered her little daughter of two and a half 
years remained through the session ; my 
brother was at the piano. 

The very first thing we did was to look at 
each other, as all children do, and not a word 
was spoken. For a moment I could not speak, 
and as for the children, they were wholly new 
to each other and shy because of their strange 
surroundings. Even the two or three who 
were intimate little neighbors in the west end 
of the city were but half acquainted now, and 
there were children from families in seven dif- 
ferent churches. After looking at each other 
we smiled, then folded our hands, bowed our 
heads, and repeated our morning prayer : 

" Now I wake and see the light, 

O, God, who kept me through the night, 

To thee I lift my thoughts in prayer, 

And thank thee for thy watchful care. 

Keep me, O Lord, throughout this day, 

And drive all naughty thoughts away. Amen ! " 

The first time this was repeated by the 
teachers only, but the fourth time by most of 
the children with us. Immediately after this I 
talked to them of the thoughts for the day — 



164 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

Love and Help. We were to have this kinder- 
garten every day except Saturday, and always 
to think of loving and helping each other. 
The first thing to learn and remember is the 
saying of Jesus, " A new commandment I give 
unto you, that ye love one another." And 
when the commandment was explained it was 
shown that if we really love people we want to 
help them. The Rev. Carl Stoeker, Rabbi 
Kline, and the pastor of the church each spoke 
a few words, to which the children gave their 
ears, eyes, and smiles. One referred in great 
simplicity to the fellowship of children, the 
next to the beauty of family life, the last to 
the unity of social life. These remarks seemed 
the more appropriate and opportune as there 
was no preconcerted arrangement between the 
speakers. A circle song, written especially for 
these children in simplest rhyme and melody, 
was then sung, the little ones taking the tune 
and associating the four lines almost imme- 
diately. This was followed by a game in which 
all joined hands, where one " showed the way," 
and after this movement song and a march we 
sat down at the tables. The children admired 
the lines and squares and polish, and I gave 
them a diversion kindergarten story. Then 
the tiny baskets they had brought with lunch- 
eon were passed, and the simple refreshment 



WORK AND PLAY. 1 65 

of a wafer, cracker, or piece of bread was 
taken out ; the basket was placed behind the 
chair of its occupant, and the crystal mugs 
of milk were distributed. The little hands 
were folded even with the first line from the 
edge of the table, and Sister Maggie taught 
them the German text, " God is love." Nearly 
all knew the English words, and, after repeat- 
ing them, they said, " Gott ist die Liebe," and 
then we repeated, 

" Dear Lord, for loving care and food 

We thank thee ever. Make us good. Amen ! " * 

While we were at luncheon Sister Maggie 
gave the German noun for the day at one table 
and Sister Gretchen at the other. It was milk, 
" milch," and even the child two years old 
knows this word in English and said it in Ger- 
man. The work of beginning an acquaintance 
with our surroundings and with each other 
had begun. When we had finished luncheon 
we went again in the circle, and, joining hands, 
sung our closing song three times. The chil- 
dren tried it with us after the first time. At 
the close of the first week they all knew it : 

" Now ended is our song and play ; 
How sweetly passed the hours away ! 



* Original with Margaret Sidney, in the Children's Day 
Book. 



l66 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

But ere we part each loving heart 
Says now, Good-bye, good-bye." * 

All bowing low with the first good-bye to 
right ; second, left. We then said, " The Lord 
watch between me and thee while we are ab- 
sent one from the other ; " and to music the 
children marched to the dressing room, the 
attendants put on their garments, and there 
they said good-bye to the sisters. On return- 
ing to the kindergarten room to get their 
baskets each one came to me at the piano to 
shake hands and say " good-bye." 

On Tuesday, after the morning circle hymn 
and prayer, we commenced to learn the song, 

" Good morning, merry sunshine," 

without gestures, until after the words were 
sufficiently well learned to suggest them, and 
afterward the New Commandment was re- 
peated, and the Bible story for the week was 
read. The Book was taken into the circle, and 
the lesson read slowly and with explanation of 
each unusual word. It was from Luke ii, 8- 
16. That day we had the narrative, and only 
a general conversation about it. 

Wednesday, the Song ; Thursday, the Peace; 
Friday, the Shepherds. A copy of Raphael's 
"Sistine Madonna" was shown and hung upon 

* Mrs. Louise Pollock, National Kindergarten Songs. 



WORK AND PLAY. 1 6? 

the wall as a reminder of this lesson. The 
narrative furnishes a natural history topic for 
the week, " sheep and lambs," and we talk of 
their appearance, habits, fold, care the shep- 
herds give, and lead to the thought of the 
twenty-third psalm. You have the same Shep- 
herd whom David had ; you are little lambs. 
Explain how the sheep and lambs know the 
voice of their shepherd. Teach unity — one 
fold, one shepherd ; and there is also oppor- 
tunity to teach a missionary lesson with the 
natural history, " Other sheep have I " (John 
x, 16); little boys and girls in India, China, 
and Africa, " And they shall hear my voice." 

Pictures were shown during the week from 
Warwick Brookes 's Pictures of Childlife, Land- 
seer's " Sheep and Lambs," from Mother Pic- 
tures. The leader had written music for the 
words of " Little Lamb, Who Made Thee ? " * 
and she played it over, and then sung the song. 
This is an attention lesson, and not compul- 
sory, but voluntary. The diversion story for 
Friday was " The Pet Lamb,"f told in prose. 
A hymn appropriate for this lesson is, 

" Thou art my Shepherd, 
Caring in every need, 
Thy little lamb to feed, 
Trusting thee still. 



* William Blake. f Wordsworth. 



l68 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

In the green pastures low, 
Where living waters flow, 
Safe by thy side I go, 
Fearing no ill." 

The second week's outline was Love and 
Help hymns, prayer, " Good morning, merry 
sunshine," and Observation lesson. In the lat- 
ter the children told what they saw when com- 
ing to kindergarten. Among other things 
" a pony," " a milkman with two horses on his 
cart," " black dog with white eyes," " man 
shoveling snow from the sidewalk," " a little 
girl kissing her mamma" (suggested by a re- 
mark by the leader, " the sweetest thing in the 
world is a mother's kiss "). 

In a Self-control lesson which followed the 
smallest children stood in an inner circle while 
the children in the larger circle ran around 
them, then the inner circle moved while the 
children were singing, and the outer circle of 
children stood still. This was difficult for the 
first week, as the impulse is to move and to do 
as others do ; but this exercise is to teach chil- 
dren that they are not to do just as others do, 
without knowing why they do it. The children 
of one circle had their work to be erect and 
quiet, no matter how much the others moved. 
This showed, too, a difference between this 
game and an Imitation game, for sometimes 



WORK AND PLAY. 1 69 

we ought to do what others do, and some- 
times we should do our own work, which may 
be wholly unlike the work of others. To us 
who are older this may illustrate the idea of 
Mr. Emerson in his essay on " Self Reliance," 
where he says, " It is easy in the world to live 
after the world's opinion, it is easy in solitude 
to live after our own, but the great man is he 
who, in the midst of the crowd, keeps with 
perfect sweetness the independence of soli- 
tude." 

The Bible narrative of Sunday was Matt, ii, 
I~I2. Monday we talked of the star — ex- 
plained that it guided the wise men ; and 
talked of stars — what? where? why? — and 
hung a card with a star, embroidered in yellow, 
beside the Madonna. 

Tuesday, the Journey. How did the wise 
men journey to Bethlehem ? Some said " They 
walked," others, "went on electric cars," 
"horseback," "carriage," but at last we de- 
cided the journey must have been made on 
camels. It may have been a long journey. 
We talk of journeys ; grandpas and grandmas 
have had a long journey through this world ; 
some of us may have a long journey, some a 
very short journey ; but we all will go together, 
and we will help each other in this narrow path. 

Wednesday, the Light. How bright the 



170 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

light of one little star ! Speak of candles, lan- 
terns, matches, fireflies, signal lights. Some 
know about the latter and their colors, for they 
live opposite the tracks of the New York Cen- 
tral Railroad. 

Thursday, the Guide. A story of Ethel was 
told. Her father and mother went away last 
summer to live in the Adirondack Mountains 
for three months, and they lived in a log 
cabin. Her papa had to have a man go with 
him whenever he took the shortest walk, for 
the path was narrow and in a wood, and they 
did not know the way ; but the guide did ! 
Apply this simple truth, and then refer to the 
star having guided the wise men to Bethlehem, 
and Jesus is our Guide and Star while we walk 
through this world. Refer to the things which 
the wise men brought (Christine having 
heard this story before exclaimed, " fumery "), 
gold and perfume, something that smelt very 
nice ; the best, the nicest and sweetest things 
the wise men had, they brought to Jesus. 
Teach of giving to others, and this pleases Jesus 
as much as if we gave the nice things to him. 

Friday, the Joy. What is it ? Explain by 
stories the idea that joy is the opposite of sor- 
row; gladness is the very farthest away from 
" feeling sorry." The wise men had great joy, 
for they were very glad that the star had 



WORK AND PLAY. I^I 

guided them to Jesus. Perhaps they had the 
same kind of gladness which we feel when we 
are doing good, and do kind things with our 
hands and feet and voices, when our lips and 
tongues are speaking loving, tender words. 
(" I helped my mamma yesterday. I hugged 
her tight," little Dorothy said. Another said, 
" I helped Clara wash the dishes the other 
day." "Did you, dear Leone? how nice!" 
" Yes, I went down to Nina's and stayed to 
dinner, and then Clara didn't have to wash my 
dishes.") 

The hymns for the week were : 

' ' There is a star illumes my night 

And cheers my darkest day, 
Keeps hope awake within my breast, 

And lights my lonely way." 

" O, the star, the beautiful star, 

Star of a glowing light, 
It reigns its beauty from heights afar, 

And brings the Christ to sight. " * 

Another: 

"Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light, 
Like a little candle burning in the night ; 
He looks down from heaven to see us shine, 
You in your small corner, and I in mine." 

The teacher could explain, in connection 
with this hymn, Matt, v, 14-16. The natural 

* Mrs. Mary Matthews-Smith, in Glad Hosannas. 



172 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

history lesson for this week was suggested by 
the journey; and we talked of camels — two 
kinds, Arabian and Bactrian. Under the former 
class is the dromedary, very fleet, and with 
but one hump. Many of the Arabian camels 
have two humps, as have all the Bactrian. 
Explain that the hump is the storehouse of 
strength for long journeys, and speak of the 
care of the Arab to see that it is in good con- 
dition before he starts on his journey. Mak- 
ing four concise talks on this journey we do 
not forget to say something about water and 
the desert. An engraving of a camel was hung 
on the wall. 

This week the children began Perception 
lessons. Teach which is the right hand and 
which is the left, which is the left foot and 
which is the right foot, and much attention is 
given to marching" one by one," and imagi- 
nation makes them different persons at differ- 
ent times ; once they are little farmers coming 
in from the harvest field, when they put their 
little hands upon their left shoulders, as if 
carrying a bundle of wheat, and sing a song 
which nearly all know, 

"Bringing in the sheaves." 

(The Presbyterian minister a few days ago 
playfully accused me of teaching domestic art, 



WORK AND PLAY. 1 73 

also, as a little girl of his flock told him she 
" was bringing in the sheets " the other day at 
kindergarten. This was a valuable caution to 
me.) The nouns studied in German are table, 
basket, chair, picture, and sun. They made a 
beginning with the new game, "A Snow- 
storm," and it was a pretty sight to see thirty- 
five pairs of hands, with all the fingers on each 
moving gracefully and slowly, while the sweet 
voices sing the song beginning, 

"See the snow is falling now, 

It powders all the trees, 
Its flakes abound, and all around, 

They float upon the breeze; " 

with this were the 

" Chilly little chickadees 
Sitting in a row," 

hop about while the children feed them, and 
by and by they fly away to the forest. 

Third week. Love and Help, with hymns 
and prayer, Salutation song, Observation, Per- 
ception, and Self-control lessons. The Bible 
teachings for the week were, Jesus in the 
Temple. On Sunday, the narrative was Luke 
ii, 40-52. Outline: 

Monday. Outdoor life of Jesus in Naza- 
reth. 

Tuesday. Jesus in Jerusalem, in the temple 



174 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

with his parents. What is a temple ? Where 
is our temple? 

Wednesday. Jesus lost for three days, but 
discovered at last, and he was subject to his 
parents. Talk on obedience. 

Thursday. Show that Jesus was thinking 
of his heavenly Father while in the temple. 

Friday. Dwell on obedience and Jesus our 
pattern. Do you obey your father and 
mother? Tell stories of the boys in China 
who have great love for their parents (these 
are like wonder stories). Teach the fifth com- 
mandment and, " Children, obey your parents 
in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the 
Lord." 

Four mornings we had object lessons in 
reverence. We went into the audience room 
of the church just after I had given to the chil- 
dren the three attitudes of reverence as de- 
scribed in Carlyle's translation of Goethe's 
WilJiclm Meister. 

Reverence should be distinctly taught, 
for it is the most important element in edu- 
cation. " Well-formed, healthy children bring 
much into the world along with them. Nature 
has given to each whatever he requires for 
time and duration ; to unfold this is our duty, 
often it unfolds itself better of its own accord. 
One thing there is, however, which no child 



WORK AND PLAY. 1 75 

brings into the world with him ; and yet it is 
on this one thing that all depends for making 
man in every point a man. Reverence ! Rev- 
erence ! ' ' 

It is then shown that the method of incul- 
cating reverence is threefold. " The first is 
reverence for what is above us. It may be 
expressed by the arms crossed over the breast, 
the look turned joyfully toward heaven ; that 
is what we have enjoined on young children, 
requiring from them thereby a testimony that 
there is a God above who images and reveals 
himself in parents, teachers, superiors. 

" Then comes the second : Reverence for 
what is under us. Those hands folded over the 
back, and, as it were, tied together, that down- 
turned, smiling look, announces that we are to 
regard the earth with attention and cheerful- 
ness ; from the bounty of the earth we are nour- 
ished ; the earth affords unutterable joys, but 
disproportionate sorrows she also brings us; 
should one of our children do himself external 
hurt, blameably or blamelessly, should others 
hurt him accidently or purposely, should dead 
involuntary matter do him hurt, then let him 
well consider it ; for such danger will attend 
him all his days. But from this posture we 
delay not to free our pupil the instant we be- 
come convinced that the instruction connected 



i;6 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

with it has produced sufficient influence on 
him." 

Then, on the contrary, we bid him gather 
courage and, turning to his comrades, range 
himself along with them. Now, at last, he 
stands forth frank and bold ; not selfishly 
isolated, only in combination with his equals 
does he front the world. It seems that some- 
thing akin to reverence is shown by man in 
his crude state, as when any unnatural up- 
heaval or distortion of nature causes him to 
fear, and one asks if this is not the germ out 
of which a noble feeling, a purer sentiment 
was to be developed, and the author replies : 
" Nature is indeed adequate to fear, but to 
reverence not adequate. Men fear a known or 
unknown powerful being ; the strong seeks to 
conquer it, the weak to avoid it ; both en- 
deavor to get quit of it, and feel themselves 
happy when for a short season they have put 
it aside, and then nature has in some degree 
restored itself to freedom and independence." 

" The natural man repeats this operation 
millions of times in the course of his life ; from 
fear he struggles to freedom ; from freedom he 
is driven back to fear, and so makes no ad- 
vancement. To fear is easy but grievous ; to 
reverence is difficult but satisfactory. Man 
does not willingly submit himself to reverence, 



WORK AND PLAY. 1 77 

or rather he never so submits himself; it is a 
higher sense which must be communicated to 
his nature, which only in some peculiarly 
favored individuals unfolds itself spontane- 
ously.' , No religion that grounds itself on fear 
should be taught. 

The thirty-six children present were the first 
morning grouped in three families, each having 
a teacher. We sat in different parts of the 
church. The organ pealed forth joyful strains, 
and we looked at the beautiful windows with 
the sunshine upon them. When the organ 
tones were very soft we bowed our heads and 
closed our eyes and listened, thinking of our 
heavenly Father (Goethe's idea of listening to 
music). The last time we were in the temple 
we sang, 

" O, the star, the beautiful star ! " 

and afterward the children marched to the ta- 
bles and we began the work with the " first gift. " 
The natural history lesson for this week was 
" Polar Bears." Outline : The bear lives in a 
very cold country, with more ice and snow 
than we see in this city to-day. The polar bear 
is called also " white bear," and this is very 
pretty, because he lives in a country so white 
with snow. He has forty-two teeth and large 
paws and claws for digging and swimming and 
12 



178 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

climbing. In the winter the mother bear goes 
into a cave and stays until spring, but the fa- 
ther is out much, even in cold winter days, and 
he goes fishing. He catches seals and many 
kinds of fish. His feet have hair all over 
the bottom of them, and he can walk safely 
and warmly on ice. He weighs about sixteen 
hundred pounds ; is about nine feet long. He 
has been known to swim forty miles near Ice- 
land, when not even cakes of ice were near for 
him to climb out on and rest* 

When the mother and baby bears come out 
of the cave in the spring they have to wait 
until their hair has grown and their eyes are 
strong. After five weeks they can look at 
the great world which God has made for us 
and for the bears, and they will go to walk 
with the father. We hung an engraving of 
bears and icebergs on the wall. It seemed 
best to have the natural history lesson wholly 
disassociated from the lesson on reverence. A 



* It was easy to teach of weight, length, and other points 
by comparison. One of the straight marching lines of the 
circle was ten feet long, so I measured nine feet on that, thus 
showing the length of a bear. A coal yard was near the church, 
and the one-ton wagonloads they were familiar with. They 
could have a good idea of the heavy bear by thinking that he 
weighs almost a ton. The forty miles they knew to be much 
farther than the long ride they take often from Amsterdam to 
Albany. A bear could swim farther than that. 



WORK AND PLAY. 1 79 

quiet, soothing game of " Rock-a-bye-baby " 
was the one for the week. 

Fourth week. Monday morning, thirty-six 
children were present and eighteen visitors. 
After the Love and Help lesson, hymns, prayers, 
" Good morning, merry sunshine," and Obser- 
vation lesson, our Bible study came. It was 
Mark i, 1-11. The outline for the week was 
this : Monday, John, messenger to the king. 
(Jesus) John's home ; food ; clothing ; busi- 
ness. Tuesday, the people heard the message 
and learned who was coming to them, con- 
fessed their sins, and were baptized. Wednes- 
day, read Luke iii, 5, and tell how "the 
crooked shall be made straight, and rough 
places shall be made smooth by Jesus, who 
can do all things." Thursday, speak of the 
baptism of Jesus, and the dove descending 
upon him. Friday, God's voice of approval, 
" this is my beloved Son " (my dear Son). 

In the Monday lesson the children referred 
to the natural history lesson of two weeks ago, 
when they talked of the camel's hair clothing, 
and they talked of the wilderness, where John 
lived, and were much interested in talking about 
the honey. Middy Brumley was quite sure 
that the storeman made honey, but Frankie 
Harder assured all the children that bees make 
honey. After a little reasoning and explana- 



l8o THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

tion we all agreed that bees make honey, and 
some one takes it out of the beehive to the 
storeman, who sells it to Middy's papa. 

John told the people of One who was to 
come pretty soon and teach them all how to 
be good, and how to help each other. On 
Tuesday, we spoke of his talking to the people 
about some naughty things they had done and 
said, and they were very sorry, and said so, 
and they showed that they wanted to be good 
and said that they would be baptized. (Johnny 
offered the remark that once, after he had heard 
naughty words, he had to be put in the bathtub 
and have his ears washed and then go to bed. 
My greatest study in these Bible lessons was 
to hold to the truth, while simplifying the lan- 
guage, and not mar the beauty and sanctity of 
the idea. 

Wednesday, the wind was fierce and strong 
and the snow deep, but thirty-three children 
and eleven visitors came through the storm. 
The Bible lesson was on a special verse from 
Luke, " Every valley shall be filled, every 
mountain shall be brought low, the crooked 
shall be made straight, and the rough ways 
shall be made smooth." An attention solo 
was a selection from the " Messiah," " Every 
valley shall be exalted." 

It was a refreshment to me as I told the 



WORK AND PLAY. l8l 

children that the One of whom John had 
spoken to the people could make the crooked 
paths straight and the rough ways smooth. 
These thoughts, with the suggestions they 
bring, appeal to the teachers and to me in 
the spiritual recesses of our being — so poetic ! 
There is great satisfaction in talking to the 
children of these high, deep, strong, good 
thoughts. I pray that the little feet may be 
guided in the narrow way. O, those tiny, dear, 
restless feet before the chairs in the circle — 
such tiny feet ! I look at the short rows of 
buttons on the little shoes, and think of the 
little feet and of the words of Longfellow : 

" O, little feet ! that such long years 
Must wander on through hopes and fears, 
Must ache and bleed beneath your load ; 
I, nearer to the wayside inn 
Where toil shall cease, and rest begin, 
Am weary, thinking of your load ! " 

Thursday, storming still ; forty-two children 
and many visitors present. My first thought 
on waking this morning was of the Bible les- 
son for the day, and I asked for direction in 
teaching it. It seemed so mystical, so beyond 
the minds of the children. I could not make 
quite clear to my own mind exactly what 
should be said about this being the symbol of 
the Holy Spirit, for I often interpreted the 



182 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

still small voice within us as God's voice talk- 
ing to us and helping us to be good and gentle 
and true. But the peculiar theme causes me 
to omit any mention of birds in the natural 
history lesson. The golden eagle was the 
next topic in order, but I substituted the 
beaver. 

Outline : 

Beavers about two feet long, tail ten inches 
long, fur short and silky, of gray color ; 
another kind, long and coarse, of reddish 
brown color. They live in the water, and 
when they swim they use their hind feet and 
legs, which are webbed to the tail. We 
talked of how they built their little houses of 
mud, stones, and branches. If the water is 
not as deep as they want it, they make it deep 
by building dams of poplar and willow 
branches stuck in the mud, and sometimes 
these take root and grow up to be large trees, 
in which birds build their nests. How nice 
that the beavers can help the birds ! We 
talked of them working very busily at night, 
and also of their food and their habits. 

We have the Self-control, Perception, Im- 
agination, and other lessons this week, but so 
many new pupils come that we still keep little 
ones at work on the first and second gifts. 
While three of the teachers work with the gifts 



WORK AND PLAY. 1 83 

at the tables, I take the very smallest children 
into another room and tell them stories or play 
"the hiding of the stone." My constant aim 
is to have the teachers discover the individual 
tendencies of the children, and to have these 
children understand a little at a time. 

The German words for the week were bird, 
cracker, snow, water, sky. The morning when 
the snowstorm was heaviest Sister Gretchen 
told us a beautiful story while we were sitting 
in the circle. It was about a little cowslip hid- 
den away by his mother (nature), where she is 
keeping him warm until the sunshine will 
come to waken and warm him. Last night she 
spread another new, thick, white blanket over 
him, so he surely cannot be cold. 



1 84 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 



CHAPTER IV. 

WORK AND PLAY— CONTINUED. 

FIFTH week. Monday morning, the mer- 
cury eight degrees below zero ; thirty-six 
children in their chairs and many visitors. 

The Bible lesson for the day was from John 
i> 3 5—5 1- We had a delightful talk each 
morning on one of the first five disciples. 
The children noticed that there were five dis- 
ciples and five days of kindergarten, and one of 
the teachers remarked that this was our fifth 
week of kindergarten too. 

The natural history lesson is upon the wolf, 
dwelling especially upon the unselfishness of 
the wolves and their gentleness toward each 
other. In this lesson I have tried to explain 
and simplify the idea of carnivorous animals. I 
have had to study patiently to be successful in 
not having cruelty or a frightful side appear to 
the children. It came in reality to be a dis- 
sertation on creation. I explained that noth- 
ing "comes," nothing happens, everything 
was made ; back of this, that ; that ; that ; 
back to the first thing, made by God ! After 



WORK AND PLAY— CONTINUED. 1 85 

this first creation, sequences. (Teachers will 
always bear in mind that I never use any 
such words in speaking to the children.) One 
little girl asked immediately if God made 
" a house," and all were greatly interested as 
we talked of men building a house of wood 
which had been sawed from the trees and made 
ready for them to use. The earth and water 
and sunshine nourished the tree, but God sent 
the sunshine and the rain. We were not go- 
ing very far back, were we ? We talked of in- 
sects and germs, too tiny for us to see without 
a glass, such as the doctor brought in the other 
day when he showed us a drop of water. We 
talked of the insects made to furnish food, and 
of how we eat meat and fish ; and in the great 
forests the wild rabbits and other animals are 
prepared for the wolves to eat, and they catch 
them themselves, as " God for great and little 
cares." 

The last day of the week was very stormy 
and slippery, but thirty-five dear, smiling faces 
looked into mine as the children seated them- 
selves in the circle at nine o'clock. After the 
devotions some one asked a question about the 
flowers under all this snow. Little Hix said he 
wanted to see them. He declared his intention 
of taking his little " shobbel " and digging away 
the snow this very afternoon and finding them, 



1 86 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

but after talking about it, we all decided that 
Hix could not find them ; they will not show 
themselves to anybody until they hear God's 
voice calling to them in the soft spring showers 
and in the sunshine, then they will waken ; when 
God's voice speaks to them they will surely 
come. 

As we talked of Nathanael we thought it was 
very nice that he had a place out of doors 
where he could pray. I told them of a little 
girl I once knew who had a little make-believe 
house, in the center of the large lilac bush at 
the end of her garden path, and on pleasant 
evenings she went out there to pray, under the 
stars, just before going to bed. Sometimes the 
evening star would come out while she was 
there. We talked of Mr. Charles Dickens' 
story of a little boy and girl who watched for 
the star to come out, and I told them how Mr. 
William Blake had called it, " Thou fair-haired 
angel of the evening." Well, the little girl had 
a Bible which her papa had given her on 
her ninth birthday, a green velvet one with a 
gilt clasp, and in the summer, while it was still 
daylight at bedtime, she took that out to the 
lilac bush and read the words of Jesus. There 
was one verse she liked very much, because 
her mamma had told her it was a good rule for 
everyone to follow ; a great many people know 



WORK AND PLAY — CONTINUED. 1 87 

it and tell it to others, and whoever obeys it is 
very happy. It is found in Matt, vii, 2-12, and 
is called the Golden Rule. We are going to 
talk about it next week. The nouns for the 
week are dog, wolf, beaver, bear, star. I feel to- 
day as some of the children have said, and the 
teachers agreed with them, " I wish we had 
this kindergarten on Saturday too, don't you ? " 
The sixth week we learned Golden Rule 
with song and chorus, also, 

"The Golden Rule, the Golden Rule, O, that's the rule 

for me, 
To do to others as I would that they should do to me." 

The Bible lesson : A ruler of the Jews. John 
iii, 1-2 1. 

Outline : 

Monday. The visit at night. 

Tuesday. A talk about the wind. John iii, 8. 

Wednesday. Believe what Jesus says of 
earthly and of heavenly things. John iii, 11. 

Thursday. Story of the serpent in the wilder- 
ness. John iii, 14. (As soon as we look 
toward Jesus in our hearts, and pray to him, 
the naughty thoughts go away as quickly as 
the sickness left the people in the wood.) 

Friday. God's love for all the people in this 
great world, John iii, 16, and the remaining 
verses on darkness and light. 



1 88 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

The natural history lesson for this week is 
upon the chamois. When the engraving was 
passed round the circle, as was customary to do, 
and all looked at it, one of the children on notic- 
ing that the mamma chamois had two frisking 
little ones beside her, exclaimed, " They are 
just coming home from kindergarten/' but he 
was immediately answered by the one sitting in 
the next chair, who said, " No, they're so happy 
because they're just going to kindergarten." 
After the picture of the chamois was hung up 
they all looked at a piece of chamois skin 
and made remarks about it. The nouns for the 
week are gold, ball, dog, boy, girl. Tuesday 
the weather was wildly stormy, a blizzard, but 
at nine o'clock twenty-four children were 
seated with folded hands ready for our work. 
We had a nice time talking about the Alps and 
the snow, and I had brought a piece of edel- 
weiss to show them. They thought the chamois 
must like to eat it, it looked so pretty and white. 

Seventh week. The Bible lesson was, The 
story of the woman at the well. John iv, 1-32. 

Monday, Jesus journeying ; when warm and 
tired he rested at the well ; the woman came to 
draw water, and Jesus asked her for a drink of 
water, John iv, 5-8. 

Tuesday, the living water, symbol of good 
thoughts, given by God, coming clean and fresh 



WORK AND PLAY — CONTINUED. 1 89 

from a new heart, John iv, 10-17, allude to 
Nicodemus. 

Wednesday, Jesus knows all things, and show 
that he knew all about this woman ; we read a 
few verses from Psalm cxxxix, and sang the solo, 
" Lord, thou hast searched me and known me." * 

Thursday, Jesus said he was the Messiah ; 
allude to former lesson on baptism of Jesus, 
and the voice which said, " This is my dear 
Son." 

Friday, the woman went to tell others 
about Jesus, and she was so glad to tell them 
that she hurried away, and left the water 
jar. Then the people came to him. They 
were as glad to hear what she told them 
about him as were those people by the river 
when John the Baptist told them that Jesus 
was coming. 

The special lesson of this week has been 
the contrast of this journey with the one 
which Jesus took in going from Jerusalem 
to Samaria. He walked and became very 
weary, and we contrast this with the jour- 
ney which the wise men took a long time 
ago — thirty years before — it is supposed, on 
camels. Jesus did not go on a camel ; he was 
poor, that he might teach us how to be good and 
happy, even when we do not have camels and 

* Woman of Samaria, by William Sterndale Bennett. 



190 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

many other nice things which other people 
sometimes have. (Teachers, study connecting 
verses, 2 Cor. viii, 9, Matt, viii, 20.) This lesson 
furnished an exercise in physical culture. For a 
fewminutes each day different children balanced 
a basket or a book on the head in imitation of 
the woman with a water jar, and walked across 
the circle. Water jars and wells can be mod- 
eled in sand and clay during the week of this 
lesson. 

The new game for this week is one which 
I made, writing the words and music for a 
fairy game, especially for these children. The 
natural history lesson was on the golden eagle. 

On February 22 we had a lesson on patriot- 
ism, and a delightful time with the story of 
George Washington. Our captain in the march 
was Robert, a veteran's son. 

The first lesson on the Seasons was given this 
week also. A roll of pink tissue paper was 
placed on the dark hair of little Sarah Kline, 
who was the fairy queen, and around her sported 
the seasons. Florence was spring, Marcia sum- 
mer, Dorothy autumn, and Frankie Peek 
winter. The children in the circle sang with 
them. The last day of the week was bluster- 
ing and cold, and I gave the children a diver- 
sion story about Northwind and his friend 
Jack Frost, and their journey together. They 



WORK AND PLAY— CONTINUED. 191 

made trees and other figures on little 
boys' windows. In the morning Northwind 
snatched off little Willie's hat as soon as he 
stepped out of doors, and Jack Frost " nipped 
his nose and pinched his toes," so he had to 
hurry into the house and get warm. 

Eighth week. The Bible lesson was Luke 
iv, 18, and this one verse furnished our topics 
for the entire week. Monday, " Preaching to 
the poor." Tuesday, " Healing the broken- 
hearted." Wednesday, " Preaching deliver- 
ance to the captives." Thursday, " Recovering 
sight to the blind." Friday, " Set at liberty 
the bruised." Natural history lesson, the red 
deer, or stag. 

Omitting some intervening work we pass 
to Easter week. On my return from Bos- 
ton, Monday morning, I found that Sister 
Maggie and the other teachers and children 
had a delightful surprise for me in a new 
Easter hymn and many beautiful Easter lilies. 
How happy we all were, and we had a gen- 
eral talk about all the people and the places 
we had learned of in the past weeks. I had 
eight children at the sand table Easter Mon- 
day, and one of them surprised me by making 
Peter's house, with the stairs on the outside, 
up which the men took their sick friend when 
they wanted Jesus to make him well. One 



I92 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

boy was so realistic that he made a circle 
across one of the roof-lines of the house. 
When I asked him what it was, he replied, 
" Why, you 'member they put the sick man 
down through a hole in the roof." Another 
boy had marked with his finger a path extend- 
ing outside the line which defined Palestine, 
and when I suggested that it was outside the 
country, he remarked, " Well, Peter was a fish- 
erman, and he had to have a path from his 
house down to the water." Easter week our 
new song was, 

"Wake ! says the sunshine, 'tis time to get up." 

In teaching this I went back of the voice of the 
sunshine, for it did not know of its own self 
when it was time to get up ; God spoke to the 
sunshine before it spoke to flowers and bears 
and frogs. The beautiful Easter story of life 
and resurrection was given each morning. 

The little ones coming to kindergarten these 
bright May mornings seem the reality of 
Tasso's words, 

" Aurora issuing forth, her radiant head 
Adorned with roses, plucked in Paradise ! " 

Here are Marcia and Sam with their fair, danc- 
ing curls, and with them Vanderzee and Kath- 
erine and Florence and Tina, and a troup of 
others following, and all swinging their tiny 



WORK AND PLAY — CONTINUED. 193 

baskets ; even little two-year-old Angeline with 
a wee little square basket, within it a nap- 
kin and cracker. Marching before them all 
is erect, sturdy little Robert in his kilts, look- 
ing like the chief of a clan. Why, they are 
like angels (sometimes) ! but they are so very 
real and so truly a part of this beautiful world 
that they must think as did the little boy who 
was told by some indiscreet older person that 
if he did not do so and so he could not go to 
heaven, and he replied, " I don't want to ; my 
mamma says I came from there, and I like here 
better!" These children all like "here," yet 
they find real delight in being good and help- 
ful. Why, one tiny child confessed to our 
organist two days ago, when he was tying her 
bonnet, " O, it's lots more fun being gooder 
than it is to be naughty ! " 

A most memorable event, one that the chil- 
dren can never forget, was the visit of Bishop 
Bowman, the senior bishop of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, to our kindergarten. The 
two mornings he spent with us he talked 
to them beautifully and told them many 
stories, one about the moon and another about 
the bitter meat of the Jack rabbits in the 
West. He told them that the flesh is too bit- 
ter for food, and drew a beautiful lesson for us, 
showing that we must have good and sweet 
13 



194 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

thoughts, then our actions will be right. The 
children sung for him most sweetly the 
" Crusader's Hymn," written in the twelfth 
century : 

" Fairest Lord Jesus ! Ruler of all nature ! 

O thou of God and man the Son ! 
Thee will I cherish, thee will I honor, 

Thee, my soul's glory, joy, and crown. 

" Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands ! 

Robed in the blooming garb of spring ; 
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, 

Who makes the woeful heart to sing. 

" Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight, 

And the twinkling starry host ; 
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer 

Than all the angels heaven can boast." 

Another pleasure which the spring has 
brought to us is the visit of Dr. Hurlbut, the 
secretary of the Sunday School Union of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He was greatly 
interested in watching the work with the gifts, 
the blacksmith game, the sand table, the 
pigeon game, and all our games and work. 
On Sunday he had talked to the kindergarten 
children and told them a wonderful story of 
God's love. He commended the daily Bible 
study in the circle. 

This week we had delightful natural history 
talks about the elephant, his habits, and his 
helpfulness to man. The elephant is able not 



WORK AND PLAY— CONTINUED. 195 

only to pile wood but to pick a blade of grass 
with his trunk ! He is very social, and lives 
in a herd of twenty or more, but if one is " out 
of sorts," or " naughty," he goes away by him- 
self. This fact impressed the children, for 
when one of them is tired of being helpful or 
is troublesome in any way, he is excused to " go 
and rest himself" in the dressing room. A 
picture of ostriches, mother and chicks, little 
Willis brought, and we hung it beside the ele- 
phant. 

Several chapters might be written telling of 
the delights of our work, but many things were 
done and said which cannot be written. Only 
those who heard Middy's sweet little voice 
saying each morning (while we were talking 
of " the storm at sea," when Jesus was asleep 
and the disciples wakened him), " Don't you 
care if we perish ? " can have any idea of the 
lesson it carried. We studied the calendar 
and learned how to tell the day of the week, 
the month, and the day of the month, also the 
season. We studied the clock dial and 
learned how to tell time; we could study 
only the hours and the half hours during 
the session, which closed before we had taken 
up the quarters. 

One April morning when the rain fell in 
torrents, and the sound of thunder was heard 



I96 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

in the distance, I sang to them Hatton's 
song, 

" Patter, patter, patter, patter ; 
Let it pour, let it roar ! 
Let the glancing lightning flash, 
Let the pealing thunder clash, 
'Tis the welcome April shower 
Bringing forth the sweet May flower. 

Soon the clouds will burst away, 
Soon will come the bright May day." 

We accompanied the words by tapping gen- 
tly with our ringers on the tables, and we all 
thought that it sounded " just like rain." An- 
other morning a group of children, who had 
been making their paper boats and sailing 
them upon the water in a dish, was standing 
waiting for the signal to come into the circle 
and prepare for the march, when I heard a 
sound exactly like frogs. It was a soft lit- 
tle groaning undertone, and some child had, 
unconsciously, perhaps, commenced the sound 
and others had imitated it immediately. I told 
them it was a pretty spring noise and sounded 
like frogs ; then they made it for two or three 
successive days. We planted peas and beans, 
and brought pussy willows and budding 
branches, violets, and lilies of the valley for 
each other to look at. We enjoyed our stick 
laying, mat weaving, and drawing ; and they 



WORK AND PLAY — CONTINUED. 1 97 

told of the wonderful dreams they had when 
they were fairies. 

In Miss Wiltse's book are two of the sev- 
eral prayers which we learned ; one of them 
is called " The Winter Prayer : " 

" Loving Friend, hear our prayer ! 

Take into thy tender care 

All the leaves and flowers that sleep 

In their white beds covered deep. 

Shelter from the winter storm 

All thy snowbirds ; keep them warm ! Amen." 

Another was called " The Springtime Prayer : " 

" Hear us thank Thee, kindest Friend, 
For the springtime thou dost send, 
For the warm sunshine and rain ; 
For the birds that sing again ; 
For the sky so clear and blue ; 
For our kindergarten too. Amen." 

Through our nature stories we became 
friends with animals that had been asleep 
during the winter, but had been wakened 
when the sunshine and God spoke to them — 
the bears, the squirrels, lizards, beavers, frogs, 
and caterpillers. 

When Frau Gunther, of Halberstadt, Ger- 
many, visited us, she told us some pretty 
things about the kindergarten there, where 
the children stay all day, have their hands and 
faces washed, and eat their dinner; and on each 



I98 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

day they talked of what God created on the 
days of the first creative week, and then they 
study the Bible every day. 

Our Bible lesson the closing week was about 
the feast of bread and fish. The children were 
greatly interested in this story, and especially 
in the little boy who had been fishing, perhaps, 
and they observed that he came as soon as 
Andrew asked him to, and brought his fish and 
bread to Jesus. We continued the thought of 
God's knowledge concerning people, and we 
went back to Nathanael, who was surprised 
that Jesus saw him under the fig tree, and to 
the woman of Samaria, who was surprised that 
Jesus knew all about her. We remembered, 
too, that David said that the Lord had searched 
him and knew him even when he stood up and 
when he sat down, and if he should go away 
over the sea God would lead him still. We all 
liked that idea, and the children thought it 
was beautiful to remember that he knows all 
about us. Many people had come to listen to 
the words of Jesus, and he knew that they 
must be tired and hungry, for they had been 
there a long time, so he had them sit down 
and have some bread and fish. Andrew had 
found out what this little boy had * A 

* Teachers should study the hospitality of Jesus ; his care 
for our bodies, his desire that we have food. 



WORK AND PLAY — CONTINUED. 1 99 

great deal is said about bread in the Bible, 
and we ask for bread every morning when we 
say the Lord's Prayer in the circle. The first 
day we talked about bread some of the children 
thought it came from the bakery ; some said 
"just dough ; " so we thought back of the bread 
to the dough, and talked of how that is made 
of yeast and flour, and back of that is the wheat 
and the earth and the air and the sun and the 
rain and— God. 

During this last week we had a delightful 
time playing at birds building their nests. 
When a nest was made of " moss and hay and 
hair " Sister Maggie spoke of straw also 
being in nests, and then gave the children 
the German word for straw, and she spoke of 
how that, too, had something to do with bread, 
because after the grain had been taken for flour 
the straw was left, and some little straw was 
blown about and carried away, and was then 
found by a little bird, and it helped make 
the nest. 

We spoke particularly of Jesus blessing that 
little bit of food, only two fishes and five 
loaves, and of his care of the pieces. With his 
blessing, his approval, his smile, little things 
can do wonders and little people can be very 
useful. 

Secondary truth — economy — be careful of 



200 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

the pieces. We, too, may " gather up the 
fragments," and he will bless these also, if we 
use them for others ; little pieces of money — 
little loving smiles, little kind words, gentle 
manners, thoughtfulness for others. 

How sweetly these children sing ! When I 
play the piano and listen to their songs they 
seem full of glee ; and when at the organ I 
play for them, in their hymns, I often recall 
the words of Hare, in his Florence, where, 
in describing the Duomo, and speaking of the 
people going there at midnight to hear Savo- 
narola preach, he says : " And though many 
thousand people were collected together, no 
sound was to be heard, not even a ' Hush,' un- 
til the arrival of the children, who sang hymns 
with so much sweetness that heaven seemed 
to have opened." Dear little children ! 

This week Sister Maggie has the children 
paper folding and working with the third gift, 
Sister Gretchen has stick laying and mat 
weaving, Miss Dunlap is at the sand table, 
and Mrs. Perkins has the first gift, sewing, 
natural history, and Bible cards. Mr. Frail 
played the piano. I have had stories, and the 
blacksmiths working with their dear, tiny fists. 
The day we closed we did as we had done 
every other morning, just the work for that 
day. " Showing off," "smartness," and ob- 



WORK AND PLAY— CONTINUED. 201 

trusiveness well-bred people, of course, never 
countenance ; but the kindergarten system is 
pronounced against it. Everything must be 
done simply, naturally, truthfully. 

All the days since the first flowers came 
most beautiful ones have been brought by the 
children, and this morning was no exception. 
We had violets, pansies, cowslips, lilies of the 
valley, pear, peach, cherry, and apple blossoms, 
lilacs and trillium blossoms. We built birds' 
nests and played fairies, and closed as naturally 
as upon any other day ; but that day the chil- 
dren in their good-byes included the pastor, 
the organist and his wife, and the sexton. 
They did this freely of their own accord. Two 
or three of them went up to the crystal aqua- 
rium on the table and said, " Good-bye, little 
goldfish." 

Let us hope that great good has been done 
in the brief session of eighteen weeks. What 
can be done for eighteen weeks can be done 
for twenty or thirty weeks during the year. 
Each day physical strength and heavenly wis- 
dom have been given for the work, and " In 
His Name " it has been done. 

" What is my being but for thee, 
Its sure support, its noblest end ? 

'Tis my delight thy face to see, 
And serve the cause of such a Friend." 



" O, the little more and how much it is ! " — Robert Browning. 



RESULTS. 203 



CHAPTER V. 

" For the things which are seen are temporal ; but the things 
which are not seen are eternal." — Bible. 

RESULTS. 

AMONG the marked results of the kinder- 
garten of the church has been the inter- 
est expressed by mothers in each other and 
in each other's children. Many, in their visits 
to the daily session of the kindergarten, met 
for the first time, and mothers from the differ- 
ent churches were brought together here and 
became acquainted with each other, and all 
were appreciative of the work which was being 
done for their children; while the feeling of 
Christian fellowship, also, has been promoted. 
Infant class teachers from the different Sun- 
day schools have met at the kindergarten, and 
nearly all the teachers of the first and second 
grades of the public schools visited its sessions, 
in some instances at great inconvenience. If 
nothing had been accomplished for the chil- 
dren, the sympathetic, warm relations which 
have been promoted between adults would 



204 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

have repaid the thought, time, and money 
given to the work. 

Nothing was said about denominations, and 
on the day when we met for the closing ses- 
sion, and I asked some of the children where 
they went to church and Sunday school, only 
those who attended the church in which we 
were assembled could tell. Of course, the 
others knew they went somewhere else on 
Sunday, but they did not know the names 
given to the different denominations. On 
a previous occasion, when teaching a les- 
son on the Beatitudes, the children could not 
recall the word " blessed," for it had been 
treated as synonymous with "happy," and 
the latter word had been the more frequently 
used. I went to the blackboard, and making 
a capital " B," asked if anyone knew that letter. 
They had been talking freely of the lesson, 
and had no feeling of strangeness to overcome, 
but all were silent — not one could tell. A 
gentleman remarked, "There's fresh mind to 
work on ! " The minds were as fresh and free 
as this from any thought of sectarianism. 

Just before opening the kindergarten the 
mothers in the different churches had been 
invited to meet the pastor and his wife and 
to talk over the object and plan of work. 
Many responded, and at a preliminary meeting 



RESULTS. 205 

thoughtful and helpful words were spoken to 
each other ; women with children grown to 
manhood and womanhood expressed interest 
in the welfare of the families where there were 
little children, and the utterance of one of these 
women was but the thought of many when she 
said : " I have become greatly interested in the 
young mothers, for I see wherein I have failed, 
and perhaps my experience may have sugges- 
tions helpful to other mothers in attaining 
what I did not reach.'' 

The pastor of the church organized " a 
mothers' educational society," and framed for 
it the following constitution : 

NAME. 
The society shall be called " The Mothers' Educational 
Society of Amsterdam," and shall be considered coordinate 
with the kindergarten of the church. 

OBJECT. 

1. To promote attention to the bodily wants of children, 
such as diet, hygiene, and all things which are for their well- 
being. 

2. To promote instruction concerning the best methods of 
keeping children busy in a manner to impart a love of work, 
to arouse a desire for self-improvement, and to develop the 
social instincts. 

3. To awaken a general interest in the progress of mankind 
as depending upon the education of the children, and to de- 
velop intellectual and spiritual perceptions. 

OFFICERS. 

There shall be a president, secretary, and treasurer to fulfill 
the duties usually performed by these officers. 



206 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

MEETINGS. 

The regular meetings of the society shall occur monthly for 
eight months, beginning with October, and special meetings 
may be called by the president at any time. 

MEMBERS. 

Any mother of the city may become a member by giving her 
name to the secretary and expressing her desire to work by 
voice and presence for the interest of the society. 

Men or women may become honorary members by the pay- 
ment of fifty cents. 

After paying expenses of lectures surplus money may be 
given to the director of the kindergarten toward its expenses. 

AMENDMENTS. 

At any regular meeting notice may be given of amendments 
to the constitution, but it will require a two thirds vote of those 
present at the next regular meeting to enact them. 

The membership enrolled at the first meet- 
ing was twenty-eight, representing different 
churches of the city. The advantages of the 
society the pastor outlined thus: " There will 
be lectures by experts in different professions, 
namely, a college professor on bacteria, and lec- 
tures on philosophy, art, music, religious life, hy- 
giene, care of children's eyes, ventilation, dress 
reform, domestic science, sanitary rules, sociol- 
ogy, and other topics upon which the members 
may desire either lectures or informal talks." 

Many mothers from homes where such in- 
struction is needed never came to either conver- 
sational meetings or the more public ones, but a 



RESULTS. 207 

few of these women improved another advan- 
tage which was offered. It was this : For a 
number of weeks during the winter, before the 
extra house-cleaning duties came, the kinder- 
garten room was open one afternoon each week 
as a reading room from one o'clock till half 
past nine. This was especially for mothers, 
and the day was Wednesday. Extra tables 
were placed in the room, upon which were the 
gifts and occupations, also books. We had 
fifty-seven of the latter, bearing upon the prin- 
ciples of kindergarten, the new education, art, 
poetry, with nature stories and music. The 
room was in charge of some mother, and the 
teachers were present to answer questions and 
explain the use of the gifts. Many mothers 
took this opportunity to copy the words of 
different songs, that they might learn them 
with the children. Sometimes a mother would 
come in the morning and copy the song words, 
saying that the children learned the tune easily, 
and she wanted to help them sing the words 
correctly. 

The good seeds sown in kindergarten sprout- 
ed and grew. 

One humid day in warm spring, on visiting 
the home of a laundress, we found her pa- 
tiently washing in the afternoon, her surround- 
ings indescribably suggestive of poverty and 



208 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

uncleanliness combined, but the two children, 
of three and five years, were at play, and as I 
entered the mother said, " They're singin' the 
lovely kindergarten songs to me, and it makes 
the time go quicker." Addressing the older 
child, I said, " What are you singing, dear?" 
and he replied, " The Jack Frost song." This 
song had a cooling suggestion certainly. The 
indications were that a street car game had 
been abandoned for Jack Frost, for there 
stood a tiny dilapidated toy, a rattan cradle, 
and before it were two clothespins for horses, 
these supported by cinders, so that the horses 
stood as straight as if they were a span of fine 
bays with arched necks. The reins were pieces 
of hemp string. Inside the car were passen- 
gers — two women, judging by the voluminous 
rags which were tied at one end, thus defining 
an outline for the heads, a white string serving 
for a collar. 

One beauty of our kindergarten of the 
church is, that the children from such homes 
as this one are, for ten hours each week, with 
beautiful, graceful, happy children who come 
from elegant homes. While we know that a 
great work is being done in the free kinder- 
gartens everywhere, yet they represent what 
people call " the poorer classes," and others go 
to a kindergarten where they are with their 



RESULTS. 209 

" own kind " of people. But during the months 
of this session of the kindergarten of the 
church we never heard of "kind," "class," 
" rich," or " poor." 

The children came from all kinds of homes, 
but in God's house they are as one family, 
playing, singing, and working together; the 
children were just as glad to be " black- 
smiths " as they were to be " kings," when the 
time came for play. 

One morning, when two little girls came 
together to say " Good-bye " to me, they were 
holding each other's hand, when one of them 
said, " I know her, 'cause her mamma washes 
for my mamma." When they grow older 
and the environments of life with different 
stations may determine other relations, the 
sympathy between them will remain. Let 
the Church start the children all off freely, 
simply, and joyously, unconscious of social 
position, and perhaps in the future standards 
may be different from what they are now. 

Money is never the standard of true people, 
but character is and must be. We believe 
that the family, the Church, and the State are 
progressing steadily toward the goal of right- 
eousness, and already the words of prophecy 
are being fulfilled, " And a little child shall 
lead them." 
14 



210 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

Much stress was put upon attention ; and 
the children soon learned that when the teach- 
er spoke, and when anything was being 
said or done for them, they were to give 
their whole attention. The attention lessons 
we deem of great importance. Anyone who 
has played the piano for even a small assembly 
of people has sometimes had the extreme 
annoyance of hearing an undertone of conver- 
sation (and not always undertone), and I deter- 
mined that among many other lessons in 
morals and manners the children should be 
taught to give voluntary and quiet attention. 
For a few minutes at different times during the 
week the pleasure of a very brief piano recital 
was given to them. 

At one time they sat perfectly still for fif- 
teen minutes, listening to a banjo solo, played 
by the father of little Rosa. This was the 
longest lesson of the kind they ever had ; but 
the thirty-nine present that morning were 
absorbed, not only in listening to the music, 
but also in watching the picking of the 
strings. Sometimes for a few minutes I would 
play a brilliant selection on the piano, and on 
another day something devotional in chords 
upon the organ ; but nothing pleased the chil- 
dren more than a story of " Wolfgang and 
Nannerl Mozart," followed by one, or some- 



RESULTS. 211 

times two, movements from Mozart's " So- 
nata " in A.* 

Kindergarten has closed ; but occasionally a 
little group of three or five children come to 
call at the parsonage. They always ask me to 
play and sing, and, though I never allude, in 
any way, to the politeness of giving attention, 
not a word is spoken while I play for them. 
During one of these calls they usually sing 
some of our hymns and songs, and if by any 
inadvertence the " Amen " is not put upon the 
hymn, some one of them remarks, " We didn't 
sing the ' Amen ! ' " 

The children have great love for each other 
and an admiration for their kindergarten, which 
is expressed in many ways. One mother told 
me the other day that she overheard this con- 
versation : One child said to the other, " Flor- 
ence, which would you rather do, have all the 
money in the world or go to kindergarten ? " 
The reply, in a surprised and emphatic tone, 
was, " Why, go to kindergarten, of course ! " 
Another mother said that her little girl habit- 
ually asked, when waking in the night, if she 
might get up and go to kindergarten. 

Last week three children, two of them four 
years, and one five years of age, came in the 
morning to call upon me. They seated them- 

* Andante- Grazioso, No. XII. 



212 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

selves upon an oak settle " just big enough for 
three," their favorite seat, and we sang the 
"Crusaders' Hymn" and " Thumbs and fin- 
gers say, good morning." Then the children 
played by themselves for a time, as there were 
numerous morning duties claiming my atten- 
tion. When I looked in the parlor a little later 
I saw that two of them had "houses" made 
of two or three cushions which they had taken 
from the sofas and chairs, and the third child 
had a small silk cushion which was filled with 
pine needles, and one corner of it was tucked 
inside the neck-band of her dress. With her 
head upon this cushion she was a fairy in the 
wood, and then she visited in the houses of the 
others. When I asked her what was inside of 
the cushion to make it smell so good she said, 
" Little children of the pine trees." We had 
planted pine, hemlock, spruce, and cedar trees 
while at work at the sand table, and many 
children remember the peculiar odor and the 
appearance of each variety. This idea was 
first suggested by one of the German teachers, 
who said that she had not yet learned the 
names of some of our trees. 

Two or three days ago I had an opportunity 
of noticing that the small children have not 
forgotten color and form, as taught in our 
spring lessons, with the names of the flowers. 



RESULTS. 213 

Being busy in the dining room one morning, 
just after breakfast, my little daughter brought 
two children into the room, one of them ex- 
tending to me a delicately tinted pink peony, 
while the other handed me two pansies. After 
greeting them and thanking them I said we 
would stay there and not go into the parlor, 
and we would " have some fun " and talk about 
color. In a china closet with glass doors are 
my pretty souvenirs from kind parishioners 
and friends, and looking over them we talked 
of their form, color, quality. Some were blue, 
red, brown, deep, round, flat, tall, smooth, 
rough, like a ball, a cube, a point. Little 
Helen called attention to a tray cloth on the 
table, which she said had " forget-me-nots all 
tied with white ribbons." I wondered if they 
could recognize something less familiar than 
these flowers ; they had noticed a bowl of clo- 
ver blossoms, which was a centerpiece, on the 
table. So I brought from a drawer my " best 
company" tray cloth, covered with maiden- 
hair ferns, looking as if they had fallen upon 
it. On being asked what these were they said, 
"light green, dark green," but were puzzled 
for the name. They said that these grew 
" right in the grass in the wood ; " but I had to 
tell them the name " fern." We then talked 
about a finger-bowl doily with one thistle 



214 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

upon it. They said at once " purple blossom 
and green leaves;" and one reminded the 
other that it " pricks like a rose and a black- 
berry bush." They said, " the top is soft, like 
fringe ; " but I had to tell them the word " this- 
tle." They will know both names next time. 
One small doily had a butterfly embroidered 
in the corner, and the wings were detached 
from the flat surface to give the appearance 
of flight ; this was worked simply in white 
linen thread. They recognized the shape and 
name, " butterfly," at once, but in a tone 
which had something more than indifference, 
and might have been interpreted as disgust, at 
least as a mistake, said, and " but he hasn't a bit 
of color on him." After looking at a small 
square with a vine of pink blossoms and green 
leaves they went away, agreeing, " But the 
pink is the sweetest of all ! " 

I shall always be sorry that in teaching the 
Bible lessons I did not speak of the seven dis- 
ciples soon after telling of the first five. John, 
Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael were like 
friends to the children ; and they know some 
incident connected with each, and always speak 
of the fact of Andrew and Peter being brothers, 
and of Nathanael once being so near a " fig 
tree," till I think they wished for his oppor- 
tunity. Two Sundays ago, while teaching the 



RESULTS. 215 

lesson on " the transfiguration," when refer- 
ence was made to Peter, James, and John be- 
ing with Jesus on the mount, bright little 
Francis exclaimed, with great perplexity, 
" James! What was he doing with John and 
Peter?" He may not have heard of James 
before, and, indeed, too little was said about 
the seven. 

It was very seldom that a child cried in kin- 
dergarten ; but two or three times it did occur, 
and then I told the children that it is being 
kind to anyone who is in trouble not to look at 
him unless we can do something for him. We 
should never stare at anyone. When tiny Irene 
cried Sister Gretchen took her away in her 
arms, and a week or two afterward a mother 
came to me and said : " Yesterday morning at 
family prayers Freddy was mischievous, and 
his father stopped reading and looked at him 
for a moment, when, after a pause, the child 
said, ' Papa, you read the Bible and not look 
at Freddie now.'" He previously had told 
his mother of the kindergarten instruction 
concerning this matter. He is three years 
old, very sweet and quiet, but observant of 
every word and motion. Two other mothers 
expressed themselves as being very thankful for 
the reverence lesson in the church ; their chil- 
dren had never been in the church service, and 



2l6 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

they thought this first entrance to the large 
room had given beautiful impressions which 
would never be forgotten. 

The kindergarten always purifies and elevates 
the plays of the children. At one time I real- 
ized and noted this when in a sewing school 
which I held on Saturday afternoons for five 
successive winters I had a time each after- 
noon for relaxation for the girls, and told 
them they might play. They commenced 
games of love and marriage : " Now we 
are married, never more to part ; " and this 
so shocked me that I substituted simple 
and beautiful games, which I played with 
them. The wholesome games pleased them 
as well, and even better than the others, prov- 
ing that the children need only to be guided 
in their play as well as in their work. 

Antique expressions like, " I hope to be 
more faithful in the future than I have been in 
the past, and meet you all in heaven," which 
we have sometimes heard in prayer services, 
show that somebody has been remiss in the 
manner and instruction given to the children. 
We should try to eliminate all abnormal tend- 
encies in them, for monstrosities are harmful 
in their influence ; let them be natural, beauti- 
ful, helpful, obedient children. 

Much might be written concerning the in- 



RESULTS. 217 

struction to be given in temperance as related 
both to moral development and to physical 
culture. We believe the body and spirit are a 
unit, and that the body must be trained to 
serve the spirit. " The more nearly normal the 
physical life is, the more nearly normal will be 
the intellectual and spiritual life. We now 
know that the race cannot be perfected with- 
out the perfecting of the body. Society can- 
not be entirely saved until man has been saved 
physically." * In society as well as in the in- 
dividual is first the physical, or material, and 
afterward the intellectual and spiritual. A 
part of the work of temperance is to teach the 
proper care of the body, that the mind may be 
free to act and to dictate to a sound body. 

Let us who are desirous for the advance of 
temperance remember that we cannot expect 
an enactment of law to educate and elevate in 
the largest degree. Restriction alone cannot 
minister to the intellectual, moral, and spiritual. 

A portion of the statement made by the di- 
rector at the end of the first month of the kin- 
dergarten reads thus : 

" To the Patrons and Friends of the 
Kindergarten of the Church: In com- 
pliance with the repeated request that a pub- 

* Dr. Joseph Strong, in The New Era. 



2l8 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

lie statement of the object and aim of the 
Church kindergarten be made, the director 
takes this opportunity of making such a state- 
ment, considering it due to those who have 
expressed a cordial interest in the movement. 

" This is not merely a free kindergarten, nor 
is it a kindergarten in the Church only, but it 
is the first and so far the only kindergarten of 
the Church. 

"A systematic course of religious instruction, 
with a daily Bible study, is combined with the 
best features of the kindergarten. The spirit 
of love, helpfulness, study of nature, gentle- 
ness, some of Froebel's gifts, occupations, and 
games, and all that is aimed at in the kinder- 
garten, is here cultured ; and the director has 
in use some of the methods of the oldest and 
best kindergartens in the country. Of neces- 
sity some of the gifts and games must be omit- 
ted from our curriculum to make place for the 
special features of religious work. Believing 
that the Church should have the first chance 
with the child, and that it should begin to 
train him in his earliest interest in the world 
outside itself, we take the children from two 
to six years of age and begin the work of 
training the sense perception, imagination, 
memory, will, manners, taste, sense of beauty 
(Plato said, ' The beautiful is undistinguishable 



RESULTS. 219 

from the true '), and a consideration for 
others. 

" In connection with the Bible studies the 
principles of the New Commandment and of 
the Golden Rule are taught, together with 
patriotism, temperance, reverence, poetry, 
music, art, and love for others as shown in mis- 
sion work. Natural history stories form an in- 
structive feature of the work each week. This 
work with small children after they leave the 
nursery, and before they go to the regular 
schools, we think to be the most satisfactory 
in results. 

" Two trained German women from the Dea- 
conesses' Institute give the noun study in Ger- 
man, daily, to the children. 

" Erasmus, Ratke, and Comenius believed in 
teaching different languages to very young 
children as the mother tongue is taught, and 
proceeding from this. We find it possible to 
do this just as we would teach the use of the 
fingers in the gifts and occupations of Froe- 
bel, who formed a system which included ideas 
expressed hundreds of years before his time by 
Plato, Quintilian, and Erasmus. 

" The Church has the oldest and best author- 
ity for cultivating the individuality of children. 

" Just one month has passed since this kin- 
dergarten was opened, and such has been its 



220 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

growth that what was provided for the con- 
venience of twenty-four pupils is insufficient 
for the sixty-three now enrolled. 

" While this is a private enterprise it is free 
to the public, that is to say, neither church 
nor individuals have assumed any financial re- 
sponsibility. The director herself has bought 
all the furniture and appliances which have 
been purchased, the First Methodist Episco- 
pal Church most cordially offering the use of 
the rooms, chairs, and piano, also the services 
of the sexton. 

" The reasons the director has for so persistent- 
ly declining tuition which has been offered are : 

" First. Many people who could not pay 
even a small fee would be debarred the privi- 
lege of sending their children. 

" Second. As a Church institution, it is desir- 
able to try the experiment of having it free. 

"To all who are interested, and who have 
asked that a time be specified when they may 
show their interest in a material way, we will 
give the opportunity of making a voluntary 
contribution upon St. Valentine's Day. 

" We wish to double our conveniences at 
once, that the work may progress under the best 
possible conditions, and if the people of Am- 
sterdam will sustain it by willing offerings it 
will be carried on. It is hoped that the pres- 



RESULTS. 221 

ent term of the year may continue until June I, 
certainly we trust until May i. The director 
has no private interest to conserve, and any or 
all the methods will be explained most gladly 
to those who desire to do a similar work. It 
is wholly undenominational, and children from 
the different churches are enrolled. It is most 
earnestly hoped that the work will be under- 
taken by each church in the city, and that 
within a few months there may be many 
church kindergartens here and elsewhere, and 
that gifted and consecrated women will sup- 
plement during the week the teaching of the 
infant class on the Sabbath. 

"One hundred and fifty visitors have been 
with us during the month. 

" Two practical points may be referred to in 
closing, as inquiry has often been made con- 
cerning them. Two dollars and eighty cents 
is the amount which has been contributed al- 
ready. The expenses so far have been a little 
more than forty-seven dollars. 

" The item of milk for the daily luncheon 
costs sixty-five cents per week. 

" The offerings may be left at the kinder- 
garten in the morning or at the parsonage on the 
afternoon of St. Valentine's Day. 
" Mrs. William W. Foster, Jr., Director. 

"Parsonage, 13 Mohaivk Place, Feb. 8, 1894." 



222 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

Just three months later the following an- 
nouncement was made in the local morning 
paper : 

" The theory that kindergarten principles may 
be used in the public Sunday school as well as 
in the public day school has been tested with 
satisfactory results in the large kindergarten in 
the First Methodist Church. 

"The work and methods have been examined 
and approved by several educators, and a num- 
ber of distinguished visitors have been present, 
among them the pastors of nearly all the 
churches in the city, Superintendents Kimball 
and Serviss, and a number of public school 
teachers. 

" Out-of-town visitors have included students 
from Vassar, Wellesley, and Smith colleges, 
the State Normal College at Albany, and kin- 
dergartners from other cities. Bishop Bow- 
man, of St. Louis, and Rev. Dr. Hurlbut, of New 
York, Sunday school editor of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, are among the recent vis- 
itors. 

" All are satisfied that the system will be of 
advantage to the Sunday school. The num- 
ber of names enrolled is seventy-seven, but a 
number of these have discontinued attendance, 
owing to illness and other causes. 

" No tuition fee has been charged, but the 



RESULTS. 223 

voluntary contributions of those interested in 
the work have gone far toward meeting the 
expenses, which were sixty-seven dollars and 
eighty-two cents. This did not include any 
salaries. 

" It has been asked so many times since St. 
Valentine's Day when another offering day will 
be named, that we will say contributions will 
be received this week, as the present term will 
close Friday, May 11, the session being from 
nine to eleven o'clock, as usual. 

" Mrs. William W. Foster, Jr." 

Personal letters of indorsement and approval 
of this plan have been received from kinder- 
gartners, teachers of the public schools, the 
superintendents of Sunday schools and of pub- 
lic schools, ministers, parents, and from all but 
three of the bishops of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church. Of these numerous letters one is 
given here, the writer having two little girls in 
the kindergarten : 

" Amsterdam, N. Y., February 12, 1894. 

" Mrs. William W. Foster, Jr., Superin- 
tendent of 'the Kindergarten, Amsterdam : 
" MADAM — Kindly permit me to give utter- 
ance to the sentiments and impression your in- 
stitution made upon me. 



224 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

" Already the excellent method and the peda- 
gogical system you display in the course of in- 
struction is sufficient proof of a great result 
to your excellent work. It is a real pleasure 
to see the little ones so happy in the cir- 
cle around you and your assistant teachers 
while you implant the golden seeds of eth- 
ical life and graceful manners to their young 
hearts. 

" Verily the progress of my own little ones is 
remarkable in every way, for which I am very 
grateful to you, respected lady. 

" Hoping that this kindergarten will become 
the pet and pride of our city, if all will take 
interest in it and lend their aid toward its 
promotion, also fervently praying to our heav- 
enly Father for the Godspeed of the kinder- 
garten, its visitors, and teachers, 

" I remain your obedient servant, 

1 « Rabbi ■ Temple of Israel. '" " H . KLEIN, 



At the semiannual meeting of the Board of 
Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
held in Albany, in April, the subject of the 
kindergarten of the Church was discussed and 
referred to a committee. Their report was 
sent to me by the secretary of the board. 
One clause reads thus : " The results of the 



RESULTS. 225 

kindergarten of the Church seem to indicate 
possibilities in this form of religious instruc- 
tion which entitle it to consideration, and it is 
commended by the bishops to the attention of 
the Corresponding Secretary of the Board of 
Managers of the Sunday School Union." 

We begin life here, but we do not end it 
either here or hereafter. We put off mortal- 
ity, but life goes on. Begun well here it will 
be well continued. Each lesson leaves its 
mark, each action carries its influence. The 
future will show all. The learned and the 
learner feel at home together in the Church, 
the dear Church of God ; within its sacred 
portal they meet. One has told us in a certain 
art book that each age has left its mark on the 
visible fabric of a celebrated historical little 
church in the valley of the Thames. Every 
style of art which has prevailed in Britain 
has shown its handiwork in the Norman 
chancel arch, early English tower, decorated 
canopy, and perpendicular east window ; and 
the past and the present blend together in 
harmony. 

"Youth, indeed, in its springtime flower- 
crowned, may look with something of wonder 
on the drooping aspect of age ; yet beneath the 
shadow of the church there is a resting place 
for both, and when the sport in the sunshine 
15 



226 THE KINDERGARTEN OF THE CHURCH. 

is over the young creep once more to the side 
of the old, who are so far from the childhood 
that is transitory and so near to that which is 
eternal." 

" Cast thy bread upon the waters : for thou 
shalt find it after many days." 



FINALE. 227 



FINALE. 

The book is written. What a relief that the 
thoughts are given ! If the message be from 
God he will use it for little children and their 
parents and teachers. 

Perhaps my feeling to-day is somewhat akin 
to that of Tasso when, in 1561, he finished his 
first poem, "Rinaldo." He had been study- 
ing mathematics, philosophy, languages, Dante, 
and Petrarch, and was beginning study for the 
profession of law, at the stern parental behest, 
when he took time to express what stirred 
within him, and to write his message, which 
he addressed as " Child of few hours, and those 
most fugitive ; " and in putting these pages 
from my hands I feel like saying as he said : 

" Dear little book, born on a sunny soil, 

May all kind planets give 
To thee the spring no winter shall despoil, 

Life to go forth when I have ceased to live." 

THE END. 



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